The curious case of the Seat Ibiza thefts: "They're the best at avoiding suspicion."

BarcelonaIn the early hours of Wednesday, February 19, 2025, two people lost their lives after falling into a ravine in a wooded area on the outskirts of Cabrera de Anoia. After initial investigations, the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police) concluded that they were the occupants of a vehicle that had crashed a few meters away and had been stolen hours earlier in Vilafranca del Penedès.

The occupants of the third-generation Seat Ibiza, manufactured between 2002 and 2008, were fleeing from the police after bypassing a checkpoint in Sant Pere de Riudebitlles (Alt Penedès) and were driving on secondary roads and forest tracks with their lights off and at high speeds. They fled on foot after driving the stolen car off an unpaved road. The two fatalities were Spanish nationals and had several prior convictions for theft and property crimes, but the Criminal Investigation Division of the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police) is certain that a third occupant was traveling in the vehicle and was able to flee.

The wave of Seat Ibiza thefts in the Penedès region

The Seat Ibiza thefts in the Penedès region began in October 2024 in Olèrdola. Since then, more than a dozen thefts of this type of vehicle have reportedly occurred in towns such as Múnia, Moja, Guardiola de Font-Rubí, Banyeres del Penedès, and Sant Pere de Riudebitlles. All the affected Seat Ibizas were third-generation models, produced between 2002 and 2008, popular in their day and true sales achievements: they topped the ranking of utility vehicles for more than a decade.

He modus operandi The crime was clear: the thieves operated at night or early in the morning in uncrowded towns with cars parked on the street. Police have found some of the stolen vehicles—at least thirteen—in locations as diverse as the Foix reservoir and Santa Pau mountain, near Vilafranca. The thieves changed the license plates, often foreign ones. Some were burned or dismantled and cut into pieces. Only the chassis number has allowed some to be identified.

Initially, the police suspected that some of them might have been transported to central Catalonia, specifically to the Bages and Berguedà areas. They were unable to lose track of them.

The most stolen car in Spain

This wave of Seat Ibiza thefts is neither isolated nor unusual. It was the most stolen car of 2024 in Spain, according to data from the Ministry of the Interior. Following at some distance were the Volkswagen Golf, the Seat León, the Ford Focus, and the BMW 3 Series. Most are usually scrapped to obtain spare parts on the secondhand market, where they also top all the best-selling rankings. Many of their modular and mechanical components are interchangeable and useful for other Volkswagen Group models such as the Polo or the Skoda Fabia. Manufacturers are only required to manufacture spare parts for a specific model for up to ten years after it has been discontinued. Furthermore, despite being between 22 and 15 years old, this Ibiza maintains a fairly high value on the secondhand market thanks to its reliability, low fuel consumption, and affordable maintenance.

In this case, however, the motive for the theft wasn't to obtain spare parts. Mossos d'Esquadra sources confirm that the vehicles were used for the transport and distribution of drugs from the south of the Iberian Peninsula. A car from that era isn't a particularly complicated task for specialized thieves. They open the driver's door with a screwdriver, and to start the car without a key, they use a laptop connected to the vehicle via the OBD port next to the steering wheel and a specific program "that can be downloaded from the internet fairly easily if you know where to look," explains Marc (not his real name), a mechanic from Sant Andreu with more than fifteen years of experience. The thieves then override the anti-theft system and configure access for a second key that they have already physically programmed. The entire operation takes less than five minutes.

Go unnoticed

"Old Ibizas are cars that allow you to go unnoticed and not raise suspicions," explains the Malaguita, a neighborhood boy from the metropolitan outskirts of Barcelona who doesn't take his eyes off the slot machine in the bar where we're having a coffee. "Furthermore, diesel Ibizas consume very little and can travel many kilometers," he explains. "It's very important to follow the marked route and stop at the places they tell you are safe. What he doesn't know, or doesn't want to say, is who receives the orders and what communication system they maintain with the members of the organization. Mossos d'Esquadra sources give more details—40 kilometers—that warns those carrying the merchandise of possible police checkpoints on the AP7 or of police presence in rest areas and motorway exits and entrances.

In it Malaguita, who is barely in his twenties and has a passion for ornithology, is the name given to the neighborhood because he has become famous for making round trips to the Costa del Sol and other parts of Andalusia. With the money he earns, he is generous with his friends. Beer in hand, he assures us that he has stopped doing this, and doesn't want to say much more, but he drives home the point: "It's very easy to drive along the AP-7 without anyone suspecting if you obey the traffic rules with an old Ibiza." There is, however, something that Malaguita What scares him more than the police: a rival gang. "If the police catch you, you end up in jail, but if a rival gang catches you, they might never see you again." His profile It fits perfectly with the identikit of the drivers and transporters that criminal gangs are looking for: young, local boys from marginal neighborhoods, without education or work.

The Mediterranean corridor, from the coasts of Cádiz, Málaga, Almería, Murcia, and Alicante to La Jonquera, is one of the main entry routes for hashish, cocaine, and other drugs from Africa and South America, transported by car to Central Europe. Catalonia is primarily a transit area and, in many cases, a resting and recreational area. If all goes well, a stolen Ibiza with a changed license plate transports its cargo to Paris, Berlin, Rome, or Warsaw.

The Penedès is one of the natural hiding places for criminal organizations operating on the AP-7. L'Anoia and the north of Baix Llobregat are areas that offer a peaceful environment and proximity to the highway, but also to the train and connections to the port and airport of Barcelona.

Traditionally, drug traffickers have used high-end cars, but lately they're also choosing to avoid the spotlight: trucks, camper vans (especially in the summer), and conventional passenger cars like the third-generation Ibiza. "Using the same computer and OBD connector, thieves can modify the engine's power and fuel consumption. They can increase the engine's torque by an extra 30-40 hp and 80 Nm, and can reduce fuel consumption to the threshold of 4 liters per 100 kilometers," explains the mechanic. "The 1.9 TDI engine is a rock; it's the best diesel ever made by the Volkswagen Group," say internal sources at Seat.

The big question is what they do with stolen vehicles once they're used. According to several police sources, as well as some auto repair shops and drainage technicians, most Ibizas, once used for one or two shipments, are burned by the same criminal groups, who don't resell the parts. "It would be dangerous to drive around with the same car and license plate for too long," explains the Malaguita.

Now, however, there's a lull in the theft of these vehicles, as, as the Mossos d'Esquadra confirm, "there hasn't been any other theft from Ibiza in the Penedès region for months." The deaths of two people linked to the thefts have put these criminal groups in the spotlight. Meanwhile, drugs will continue to circulate along the AP7 to satisfy the growing demand in northern and central Europe.