There is always room for improvement in security, and more so when an event, in this case the theft of copper from a railway infrastructure, has consequences that affect thousands of people. Aside from the bitter political dispute between administrations, yesterday the Mossos d’Esquadra held an emergency meeting to analyze the problem and take measures. At the outset, they raise the metal’s specific operational plan (POE) to the maximum, as La Vanguardia has been able to learn.
The meeting at the Egara police complex, in Sabadell, was chaired by chief commissioner Eduard Sallent with the presence of commissioners Rosa Bosch, David Boneta, Rafel Comes, Marta Fernández, Ramón Chacón and Ferran López. They analyzed the figures for this first semester and confirmed the increase in copper thefts, but also the increase in arrests after several investigations of some batteries of multi-recidivist thieves to which they have been able to attribute twenty incidents.
In fact, a few days before the incident in Montcada and Reixac, the police arrested eight members of a group of multi-recidivist thieves who worked, among other things, on railway infrastructure. The following day they were all released and since the weekend they were again in the crosshairs of the investigators of Sunday’s incident. A fact that, at this time, for the Mossos, is another copper theft, with very serious effects, but without an intention about which the Ministry of Transport doubts. Neither the scientific police at three points in the incident, nor the Mossos d’Information, have not found a single indication that points to the hypothesis of sabotage.
The increase to the maximum level of the Metal operation implies in practice more hours of patrolling in railway infrastructures, and also doubling the inspections that are carried out periodically at the waste management centers where all the copper ends up stolen With regard to the investigations of the thefts, the incidents will continue in the corresponding units of each territory, but the criminal investigation division will from now on maintain a guardianship of all open cases.
The police also decided to knock on the door of the Prosecutor’s Office again to address the problem and seek the complicity of those multi-recidivist criminals with dozens of arrests for copper theft. This figure makes it much easier to understand: 72% of the 186 people arrested by the Mossos last year for copper theft had a history of similar crimes.
While the meeting of the police leadership was taking place, the representatives of the railway infrastructure administrator (Adif) went to the courts of Cerdanyola to present a complaint for the incident on Sunday which, barring a surprise, will continue to be investigated by the Mossos d ‘ Squad.