A joint operation by the National Police, the Mossos d'Esquadra and the Barcelona Urban Guard against the alleged authors of a large number of graffiti on railway infrastructure has resulted in the arrest of 21 people.
The device has been developed in two phases: the first aimed at identifying the alleged perpetrators of the damage and the second to locate and arrest them. Twelve people were arrested in Barcelona, two in Vilanova i la Geltrú, three in Tarragona and two more in Madrid. In total, more than 200 crimes involving damages exceeding one million euros are attributed to them.
Since 2023, there has been an increase in criminal actions in Catalonia consisting of the vandalization of trains and subways, with episodes of graffiti being committed by people simultaneously that ended up causing material damage.
Among those arrested are some of the alleged perpetrators of the acts of vandalism carried out on January 21 on L4 and L2 of the Barcelona Metro, which forced the circulation of these lines to stop, and also of the damage to the facilities. of the municipal sewer located on Paseo Sant Joan.
Furthermore, the impact of these events directly affects the train and metro service, causing delays and stops on the lines, causing harm to users of the service. These episodes also extended to railway infrastructure in the cities of Copenhagen (Denmark), Malmö (Sweden) and Oslo (Norway). It has been proven that the vast majority of those investigated reside in Catalonia, although they also traveled to different cities in the rest of Spanish territory, including other European countries, to carry out their actions.
This criminal roaming has made it difficult to identify the perpetrators and prosecute these crimes, which is why various police procedures have had to be carried out through Interpol-Madrid to inform the police and judicial authorities of the countries affected by the criminal acts. allegedly committed by those investigated.
The graffiti artists always put their signature and recorded themselves to share their actions through social networks and gain followers. The final exploitation phase of the operation has been carried out in different municipalities in the provinces of Barcelona and Tarragona, as well as in Madrid.
The General Commissioner for Citizen Security, the Mobile Transport Police Brigade and the Barcelona Provincial Information Brigade of the National Police, in collaboration with the Transport Police of the Mossos, have carried out various operations against these groups of graffiti artists.
It is worth highlighting “Operation Awakening”, carried out in 2021 with the arrest of 103 people who were attributed damage to trains and railway infrastructure in Catalonia valued at more than 22 million euros. This was followed by other operations such as the so-called “Retorno”, also investigated by the Mossos d'Esquadra and the National Police, “Tramuntana” and “Amanecer”, carried out during the years 2022 and 2023.
