Greater security in highway rest areas around Barcelona

Granollers (CNA).- The rest areas located within the Northern Barcelona Metropolitan area will have a greater number of CTV cameras as well as a larger police presence. The means will be implemented throughout the summer in order to fight robberies. Catalan Police will focus in particular on the so-called “Peruvian bands”, which are specialised in robberies along the highways AP-7 and A-7 and profit from the large number of trips coinciding with the summer season.
The Head of the Police Region of the Northern Barcelona Metropolitan Area, David Piqué, has explained that the Catalan Police (called Mossos d’Esquadra) are prioritising reducing the number of felonies and in particular robberies in service and rest areas. He said, “Everyone will make an effort. On our side, we will put more police presence. On Abertis side (the highway’s service provider), they will increase the number of cameras and the amount of private security”. However, he has not quantified the figures of the increase. Piqué has added that not all of the areas will have allocated security staff or police patrols full time. The key will be the coordination, he stressed.

A concrete objective is to end robberies made by the so-called “Peruvian bands”, who scam other drivers to make their cars stop and assault them in order to rob them. “With the arrival of the summer and the large increase of vehicles, they have more opportunities to act”, David Piqué underlined. He pointed out that it is quite difficult to completely stop these criminals but that if the police are able to detain 2 or 3 of the operating bands, citizens will see a very significant decrease of felonies committed on the highways.