The number of people reported for metal theft has increased this year in Catalonia. The Mossos d’Esquadra have identified 492 people in the first ten months of 2023, of which 306 have been reported, a figure that is 70 more than during the entire year 2022. The force attributes the data to the increase in patrols, both uniformed and plainclothes, in those spaces in which greater criminal activity has been recorded, as well as the intensification of communication and relationships with companies and entities that have been victims or that could be susceptible to being victims. Until the end of October, 186 people have been arrested for this type of crime, very close to the 199 arrested throughout 2022.

The Mossos d’Esquadra have responded to metal theft with a Specific Operational Procedure (SOP) since 2010, a mechanism that is still in force and that establishes the typology of actions to be carried out in the event of this type of crime. With a peak in thefts in 2013 and a decrease with the explosion of the covid pandemic, in 2020, which slowly recovered with the recovery of ordinary activity.

This 2023 has stabilized with 4,103 robberies, while throughout 2022 4,636 were recorded. The majority are concentrated in the metropolitan area and on the coast, and the body attributes the decrease to preventive action.

“Among all the police actions of the POE there is dialogue with the actors, such as Adif, to talk about what the police do and what the entity can do,” explains the deputy head of the technical division of Citizen Security of the Mossos d’Esquadra, the inspector Josep Naharro. This involves reinforcing spaces that are sensitive to theft, such as road environments, but also buildings under construction, abandoned industries or waste management spaces.

Until the month of October, the force has reported 306 people for stolen metal, ahead of the 236 in 2022. Likewise, there have been 186 arrests, while 199 were recorded last year, data from which The body predicts that they will be equal by the end of 2023.

A fact that draws attention is that 72% of those arrested had a criminal record, that is, they had already committed a similar crime. This is because they are not usually specific thieves, but rather need the connivance of other people to steal, transport and even sell the stolen metal.

Hence, one of the lines of work is to obtain sufficient evidence to prevent those arrested for these crimes from being quickly released. “We try to promote figures who can incite the prosecutor’s office to request provisional detention measures as participants in a criminal group because this entails a higher penalty, we set up networks that are dedicated to this to dismantle them,” details Naharro.

It is not the only space in which thieves operate, but train lines are one of the major targets for metal theft, specifically copper. “In these cases, even if it is a single theft, the impact is very high on the population,” says Naharro, given that it usually causes significant alterations in the railway service, with delays and suspension of convoys.

According to Adif, in 2023 and until the month of November, 136 thefts of railway material have been recorded throughout Catalonia, which is practically double that of the entire previous year, when 70 were recorded. From September to November alone, 46 have been recorded. thefts, something that the infrastructure management entity attributes to the works in progress throughout the territory and the increase in prices due to the current geopolitical situation.