The Mossos d’Esquadra (Police Force) arrested 28 people aged 22 to 61, responsible for a total of 133 thefts and robberies committed on Barcelona’s public bus network between April 22 and 28.
In a statement on Saturday, the Mossos reported that officers from the Urban Transport, Urban Crime, Motorcycle Units, and the Sarrià-Sant Gervasi and Gràcia police stations, in collaboration with the Guardia Urbana, launched an operation on April 22.
This operation was supported by the Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona (TMB), which operates a video surveillance system with over 4,500 cameras in its fleet.
The aim of the plan was to stop habitual thieves who acted in small groups or alone and often robbed the elderly.
On the first day of the operation, officers were able to arrest 14 people. In the following days, other suspects who had previously been identified as possible perpetrators were tracked down and also arrested.
The detainees almost always deliberately sought contact with elderly people and took advantage of the crowdedness of the buses to approach them and steal their belongings, especially handbags – without injuring any of the victims.
A total of 164 police files of the detainees were brought to court between April 24 and 28. The Catalan police point out that the investigation is ongoing and therefore do not rule out the possibility of further cases emerging.
On Saturday, the TJSC reported via X that the judge of Instruction 7 of Barcelona, in accordance with the prosecutor’s request, imposed a ban on the use of the city’s buses for two of the detainees.
