The director of the Mossos, Pere Ferrer, considered it “irresponsible” that the Spanish Government, through the Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, “is trying to accuse” the Catalan police of inaction and was surprised by the fact that 48 hours later, they had still not received any complaint from them for the copper theft last Sunday in Rodalies.
Shortly after the interviews given by the director of the Mossos to TV3 and RAC1, Minister Puente announced via Twitter that the Government of Spain has just “presented the complaint for the acts of vandalism on Sunday in the Investigative Court of Cerdanyola”.
Furthermore, Ferrer has stated in several interviews with media such as TV3 and RAC1, that since Sunday they have carried out three visual inspections, to refute the words of the Minister of Transport. In statements to Catalan television, Ferrer considered these words “untimely” and was surprised by the fact that there was no video surveillance camera in the area. On the other hand, he explained that behind the robberies there are organized gangs, but also individuals.
Ferrer once again defended the work of the Mossos to prevent copper thefts. Thus, he explained that patrol hours in the railway sector have increased by 250% between February and March in relation to 2023. If the comparison is year-on-year, the increase is 140%. Currently, 7,400 hours of patrol are carried out per month to prevent copper thefts. With these figures, Ferrer has defended that the Mossos “do not ignore anything nor look elsewhere.”
However, he has insisted that Adif has its responsibility since the infrastructure is its own. In this sense, he assured that it is “difficult to explain” that the Generalitat Railways (FGC) network concentrates 29 incidents per 1,000 kilometers of track and the Adif network concentrates 184 incidents.
In this sense, it has been asked what has been the percentage increase in investment in the Adif network to improve security and prevent theft. He also asserted that since 2010, 3,600 euros have been owed to Catalonia in railway investments. For all this, he has defended that “it is difficult to think” that the explanation for the robberies lies solely in police patrols.
Despite the reproaches, Ferrer assured that they are keeping their “hand extended” to Adif to carry out an audit that will allow them to implement various mechanisms to improve safety on the railway network.
On the other hand, Ferrer explained that they do not rule out sabotage as they do not rule out any other hypothesis, but he assured that there is “no element” that points in any specific direction.
In this sense, he denied that the Mossos have not entered the tunnels affected by the incident. He added that, on the contrary, they have already carried out three inspections in the area and they have done so ex officio, since until now there has been no complaint from the Spanish government. He explained that they also looked at the cameras in the area and pointed out that in a place where there was “highly relevant cable,” there were no surveillance cameras.
According to the investigations into copper thefts, Ferrer has explained that behind them there are organized groups but also people who act individually and in a “quite artisanal” way. In this sense, she explained that arrests in this area have increased by 9 percent year-on-year.
On the other hand, Ferrer has defended that the election of Eduard Sallent as major of the body has been carried out according to the established deadlines. Specifically, he has said that the announcement was made with 15 days left to sign the election decree and that since then the legally established deadlines have been met. Regarding motivation, he assured that the aim was to consolidate the ‘Mossos 2030’ project launched by the department and that this possibility is legally recognized.