11 arrested in Barcelona police operation against drug trafficking related to January shooting

Catalan police have arrested eleven people in the La Mina neighbourhood of Sant Adrià de Besòs as part of an operation related to drug trafficking and a shooting that took place on January 7.

A total of 350 officers took part in the operation in the neighbourhood, deployed at around 6 am.

Agents from the Criminal Investigation Division (DIC) and public order units, were deployed, as well as the Canine Unit, the Drones Unit, Aerial Media, Scientific Police, and the Citizen Security Unit.

In total, around fifteen searches were carried out in buildings around Carrer de Venus and Carrer de Saturn and nine weapons, including guns of various sizes, were seized.

A marijuana plantation was also dismantled and other drugs and cash, yet to be quantified, were seized.

The January shooting reignited calls for tougher firearm regulations, as people fired over 100 shots fired during the incident which, despite the scale, saw no serious injuries reported. 

Catalan police, the Mossos d'Esquadra, had been waiting for weeks to be able to take control of the La Mina neighborhood of Sant Adrià de Besòs. Since the shooting on January 7, the police force had set La Mina as one of its priority targets, with riot police units deployed permanently since the events. 

The head of the Mossos d'Esquadra police station in Badalona and Sant Adrià de Besòs, Alfons Sàrrias, detailed to the media that the operation in recent months has been "comprehensive," with patrols and pressure applied to "sensitive points" of the area. 

In the first few weeks, the Mossos carried out nearly 600 identifications of people, while the criminal investigation progressed.

The nine arrested are, Sàrries said, the "shooters and people who gave them cover," while two more arrests are linked to drug trafficking.

The presence of so many police officers and the media in the neighbourhood caused some moments of tension among the locals. Neighbors, friends, and acquaintances of the detainees reprimanded officers and journalists, with some objects thrown. A beer can hit a television cameraman in the head while the last arrest was being carried out.