The Mossos d’Esquadra have arrested three men accused of placing seven homemade explosive devices in banks and commercial establishments in Barcelona between July 2022 and June 2023, allegedly for ideological reasons, although they were never claimed.
As reported this Wednesday by the Generalitat police, after more than a thousand hours of analysis of various videos, agents from the General Information Commissariat arrested three men between 24 and 45 years old on October 5, and are investigating a woman. for their alleged participation in the crimes of havoc, damage and possession of weapons and explosives and against public health.
The banking entities and commercial establishments that suffered the damage, amounting to nearly 80,000 euros, were located in the Eixample and Sant Martà districts of the Catalan capital. The actions were always carried out at dawn and two people normally participated: while one placed the device, the second carried out surveillance tasks.
The agents of the TEDAX-NBQR group who carried out the study, analysis and reconstruction of the explosive devices, with the remains collected at the different places of the events, came to the conclusion that all of them had been manufactured by the same person.
Due to the way they were made, specialists determined that the manufacturer of the artifacts had advanced technical knowledge. The explosive material was homemade and the construction of the device required specific knowledge in chemistry and physics.
According to the technical reports, the devices had registered a qualitative evolution, and thus in each attack the amount of explosive material increased, and substances with greater potential for harm were used, so if the explosion had occurred near people, it could have caused serious injuries, although the explosions will not cause casualties.
Although the attacks were not claimed, based on the ‘modus operandi’, the investigation indicates that the motivation “is compatible with an ideological background framed in violent anarchism,” according to the Mossos. “This ideological current, in its combative aspect, is traditionally associated with the use of incendiary or explosive devices against those considered symbols of the system and capital,” adds the statement from the Genralitat Police.
On October 5, investigators detained the three alleged perpetrators and a woman’s statement was taken as an investigator; During the searches, chemicals and other elements intended for the manufacture of explosive devices with the same characteristics as those investigated were seized.
The detainees were brought to justice on October 6, while it remains open to find evidence of participation of those investigated in more similar events, or of other people, as well as to specify the motivation for the actions.
