Wave of arrests for drug trafficking in El Raval seen from a terrace
Police can now arrest small-scale drug mules after an internal protocol change
BarcelonaThe contact is quick and you have to be attentive not to miss anything. One guy approaches another and they exchange a few words. Sitting on a terrace to disguise himself and at a prudent distance, it's impossible to know what they're saying, but it can be interpreted. One gives some coins to the other. At that moment, the seller takes something out of his pocket and hands over, one by one, small things, as if they were coins, to the buyer's hands. The customer has already paid and after this exchange they separate with the satisfaction of having done it quickly, without anyone having seen them. But some plainclothes police officers appear and arrest them. The buyer is carrying several Lyrica pills in his pocket. The seller ends up arrested for a crime against public health.
As ARA has explained several times, it is common to see these exchanges of pills in the middle of the street in the Raval of Barcelona. Lyrica is a medication that is mainly indicated to reduce nerve pain and some epileptic seizures, as well as generalized anxiety disorder. Among the drugs that are trafficked on a small scale in the Raval neighborhood is also Rivotril, a benzodiazepine that is also mainly used for certain types of epilepsy and seizures. Both require a prescription.
According to police sources, until now the authorities could not arrest those responsible for these exchanges following various internal guidelines. Basically, until now the public prosecutor's office opted to file cases of pill exchanges. This has now changed. After an agreement between the Prosecutor's Office, the Mossos d'Esquadra and the Guardia Urbana, this trafficking is considered a crime against public health and the first arrests are already taking place.
These medications have a very specific audience, according to police sources and also drug dealers, and are mainly young people who dedicate themselves, above all, to stealing. Why? They are drugs that tend to disinhibit, to raise adrenaline, and they take them to lose their fear before committing a violent robbery in the street. Before the new criteria, exchanges were made in plain sight and dealers did not even hide. They even sometimes did it in front of the police, with a cocky attitude, evidencing their sense of impunity. With the internal change in the police, both in the Mossos d'Esquadra and the Guardia Urbana, there is a wave of arrests for drug trafficking.
El ARA has been able to witness three arrests simply by sitting one afternoon on a terrace in the Rambla del Raval. All three take place one hour apart and a few meters away. They are always dealers who wait standing on the corners, hanging around, until the customer arrives and with admirable speed they make the exchange. In conversation with El ARA, one of these clients, just after being identified by the police, complains that he takes Lyrica for a leg pain. In fact, he walks with crutches and has an open, poorly cared-for wound on his lower leg. Asked if he has this drug prescribed, he limits himself to saying that it is for his leg. He is young —not yet 30 years old— and barely speaks Spanish. He does not carry ID and identifies himself with a CatSalut card.
How much did this man pay for the pills? 10 euros. A little over two euros per pill. It's the standard price if you're a regular customer. Sometimes, those who are not known can be charged up to five euros per tablet. Now the police are also starting to investigate where these pills come from and if there are associates of the dealers who go to the pharmacy with a prescription and then resell them.
And a snatch
El Raval is movement. Dozens of people constantly go up and down this neighborhood in the center of Barcelona. In the midst of the movement, drug exchanges can be seen: a young man approaches another, puts something in his hand, and shortly after the buyer sits down and rolls a cigarette. You only have to pass by to detect that it is hashish. On the same corner, a new exchange of pills takes place, which ends, again, with the arrest of the seller.
But El Raval has so much movement that seconds later, while they are arresting the dealer, another young man snatches a gold necklace from a tourist waiting for a taxi. A pursuit begins with several officers running through El Raval until they intercept the thief. They manage to stop him, arrest him, and the jewel returns to the tourist's hands.