Cybercrime and crime derived from marijuana trafficking are the main challenges for the security of Catalonia. This was listed yesterday by the Minister of the Interior, Joan Ignasi Elena, in the presentation of the security plan, an exhaustive document that outlines criminal phenomena and how to combat them. “It is a plan with a progressive orientation” that the minister intends to be “socially fair” and to apply “equity criteria” while seeking “special attention to the needs of the most vulnerable.”
Cybercrime is one of the main security challenges. Since the pandemic, scams and fraud committed through the network have experienced a great increase. If during the stage of confinement and mobility restrictions, crime suffered a decrease, internet hoaxes increased to represent 32.5% of all reported crimes.
The report warns that the authorities must deal with specialized cybercriminals, who live in a constant process of sophistication, which “increases the challenges associated with preventing, detecting, and prosecuting it.”
New modalities appear every time: phishing, whaling, smishing or vishing… formulas with which cybercriminals seek to access valuable information stored on devices to steal money or data that allow them to impersonate the identity.
The Ministry of the Interior foresees that “the phenomenon will not subside in the coming years and that it will consolidate as a criminal area in Catalan society.” For this reason, it is committed to creating an operational unit specialized in cybersecurity, intensifying collaboration with the Center for Information Technology (CTTI) and developing awareness campaigns to prevent citizens from falling into deception.
Marijuana trafficking is the other main security problem in Catalonia identified by Interior. Beyond a public health problem, other phenomena derive from this, such as the establishment of criminal organizations and their penetration into the social, economic and even institutional fabric and, ultimately, the fraudulent use of electricity to supply plantations.
Faced with this reality, Interior advocates assigning more mossos d’esquadra to specialized investigative units aimed at combating the illegal cannabis market and associated crimes; promote pilot tests and acquire new technological devices to detect illegal marijuana plantations, and formalize an annual inspection plan in collaboration with the Climate Action Department to control hemp plantations and prevent them from being used for drug trafficking.
