Catalan police launched a series of dawn raids across Barcelona and L’Hospitalet de Llobregat on Tuesday, targeting an international criminal organisation allegedly trafficking cocaine and hashish between Catalonia and Italy. This large-scale operation involved around 150 officers and aimed to dismantle the network by arresting its principal leaders.
The Mossos d’Esquadra, Catalonia’s autonomous police force, began the coordinated action in the early hours of Tuesday, 3 March. The force’s Criminal Investigation Division (DIC) leads the operation, supported by various specialist units, including the ARRO and BRIMO public order brigades, a canine unit, and a drone team.
Targeted Raids and Key Arrests
Authorities planned a total of nine entries and searches in properties across the two cities. The operation’s epicentre was the La Florida neighbourhood in L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, a municipality that has seen other recent police actions, including a separate trafficking probe arrest. In Barcelona, one of the raids took place shortly before 8 a.m. at a block of flats on Avenida Eduard Maristany, in the Sant Martí district near the border with Sant Adrià de Besòs.
Although the case officially remains under a judicial secrecy order, limiting public details, sources close to the investigation have provided early insights. Catalan newspaper ARA reports that the organisation’s alleged leader has already been detained in Barcelona, with up to a dozen more arrests anticipated throughout the day. Additionally, El Caso reports investigators have already discovered large quantities of drugs, predominantly cocaine, and significant amounts of cash.
In a statement posted on social media, the Mossos confirmed the ongoing operation. “An operation by the DIC is underway against the international trafficking of cocaine and hashish,” the force stated. “We are acting against a criminal organisation that operated between Barcelona and Italy. We are carrying out several searches and arrests in Barcelona and L’Hospitalet de Llobregat.”
The Growing Catalonia-Italy Narcotics Route
This latest crackdown highlights a growing trend police have identified: the intensification of a land-based route used to transport drugs from Catalonia, a key entry point for narcotics into Europe, to buyers in Italy. These operations often involve drugs arriving in Spain before road transport to markets associated with powerful Italian organised crime syndicates.
The operation comes less than a month after another major international effort to disrupt this very route. On 10 February, the Mossos d’Esquadra, in collaboration with Italy’s Guardia di Finanza, dismantled a separate transnational organisation dedicated to trafficking hashish. Coordinated by courts in Badalona and Milan, that operation resulted in 17 arrests and simultaneous raids across Catalonia, Zaragoza, Málaga, and Italy.
As the current investigation unfolds, authorities hope to sever a critical supply line in the European illegal drug trade. The deployment of significant resources underscores Catalan law enforcement’s commitment to combating increasingly sophisticated international networks using the region as a logistical base.
