operation

Score of Italian crime syndicate members arrested in Barcelona suspected of money laundering as Catalan executive announces 505 new police officers

Villarejo implies that the head of Spanish police was under the instruction of the Spanish Vice President in order to investigate Catalan pro-independence leaders

The Abernethy deformity affects one out of 30,000 children and causes severe complications

The Human Rights Institute of Andorra (IHDA) and the Catalan rights association ‘Drets’, have filed a joint complaint before the courts in Andorra against four Spanish police officers who were part of the alleged smear campaign of the Spanish Ministry of Interior against Catalan officials, the so-called “Operation Catalonia”. The highly ranked police officers shall be investigated for crimes such as threatening, coercion and extortion of citizens of Andorra with the objective of “obtaining information” on “supposedly existing bank accounts” of Catalan pro-independence politicians in order “to destroy their public image”. Representatives of the private accusation explained to the press on Tuesday that the alleged pressures of the Spanish National Police forces on citizens of another country violate international treaties, and represent a “state crime”. The complaint has already been accepted by the Instruction Court (Batllia) number 2 of Andorra.

The Spanish police has detained three suspected jihadists this Monday morning accused of being part of a DAESH cell in Badalona, Salou, and Tangier. In Catalonia the arrested are two men aged 21 and 32 of Moroccan nationality. In addition, with the collaboration of Morocco's General Directorate for Territorial Surveillance (DGST) a member of the same cell has also been detained in Tangier. The two arrested in Badalona and Salou were in regular contact with other members in Spain now arrested for belonging to DAESH, and also with important members of this terrorist organization in Syria and Iraq, where, according to Spanish police, they were supposed to go to fight in “jihad” and die as martyrs. 

Early this morning, the Catalan police force (Mossos d’Esquadra) carried out an important anti-jihadist operation in six Catalan municipalities. There were 9 arrests in 12 major raids in Barcelona and the surrounding municipalities of L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Cornellà, Santa Coloma de Gramenet, Ripollet, and Masquefa. The Catalan Minister of Home Affairs, Jordi Jané, announced that some of the “arrests made today are in connection with the terrorist attacks in Brussels”. He added that there is no evidence of any planned attack in Catalonia. Jané highlighted the collaboration between the Catalan and Belgian police forces.

The North American giant Amazon will open a new logistics center in Martorelles, 20 kilometers north of Barcelona, aimed at serving the European market. The 30,000 m2 plant will become operational in the fall and will be located in Martorelles’Can Roca business park. The new center will initially employ 200 people but is expected to create 650 jobs within the next three years. Martorelles’center will consolidate Amazon’soperations in Catalonia. It has already set up two plants near Barcelona while the main logistics center—which will be Amazon’s biggest in the south of Europe and will be located next to Barcelona’s ‘El Prat’airport—is expected to be operational by fall.

The Spanish Parliament will finally create a committee to investigate whether the Spanish Ministry for Home Affairs plotted to discredit Catalonia’s pro-independence process. According to a police report published last July, the so-called ‘Operation Catalonia’ was launched during last Conservative People’s Party (PP) term of office, involving former Spanish Minister for Home Office, Jorge Fernández Díaz and Inspector José Villarejo, amongst many others. Indeed, Fernández Díaz will have to appear before the Committee in relation to several tapes published last June which proved how he and former Director of Catalonia’s Anti-fraud Office, Daniel De Alfonso, plotted to discredit Catalonia’s main pro-independence parties. The creation of this Committee was first requested by left wing pro-independence ERC, former liberal ‘Convergència’, now renamed as the Catalan European Democratic Party PDeCAT and the Spanish Socialist Party, but was delayed due to Fernández Díaz’s serious illness.

Spain’s so-called ‘dialogue operation’ with Catalonia has had “zero” impact at international level. This statement was made this Tuesday by the Secretary General of the Public Diplomacy Council of Catalonia (Diplocat), Albert Royo, during the conference ‘Catalan Public Diplomacy in a changing world’. The talk was organised by the Federation of Internationally Recognized Catalan Organisations (FOCIR, going by its Catalan initials). According to Royo, what is transcending abroad is the “persecution of 400 Catalan elected officials being carried out by Spain”. “Until now the dialogue operation has not materialised and been translated into concrete facts, we neither see it in Catalonia nor abroad”, he added. Furthermore, he warned that with the dialogue promises Spain is “paving the way to legitimate future coercive measures [against Catalonia] at international level”.

The Catalan Police Force ‘Mossos d’Esquadra’, together with the Spanish Police arrested 11 people this Tuesday during an operation against money laundering in Barcelona and the Costa Brava. According to the public prosecutor’s office, ‘Operation Variola’ is aimed at a group of Russian and Ukrainian citizens who have allegedly laundered at least 10m EUR through setting up or buying companies. The individuals arrested allegedly used these businesses to incorporate the earnings they obtained through illegal activities and then used the money to buy properties. Sixteen searches have been carried out, one of the most remarkable was that of ‘Yubari’, an exclusive Japanese restaurant located in the Catalan capital which is a regular hangout of several celebrities.

The Spanish authorities “should address the shortcomings of the postal voting system”, especially for those living abroad. This is one of the main conclusions of the report written by the Organisation for Security and Co-Operation in Europe (OSCE) and the Office for Democratic and International Human Rights (ODIHR), after observing the 20-D Spanish elections. The report also warns of the “political pressures” on Spanish public radio and television, as well as the coverage of the electoral campaign, which was “highly regulated according to some stakeholders” rather than following informative criteria. According to the report, only 8.57% of the 1.8 million Spanish living abroad registered to vote for the last Spanish elections and less than 89,000 could ultimately do so.

The so-called 'Operation Enxaneta' is considered the most important in the fight against drug trafficking carried out in Spain in the last ten years. 35 people have been arrested, 25 of whom have already been sent to prison. 83 kilos of highly pure heroin, 1 kilo of cocaine and 360 grams of marihuana have been intercepted. Several bank accounts have been frozen, and patrimonial assets and more than 1 million euros in cash have been confiscated. The investigation, which started in April, has brought to light heroin's routes and sales channels, starting in Pakistan and finishing in Barcelona and Madrid, amongst other places. 'Operation Enxaneta' was carried out by the Catalan police in collaboration with the Spanish Guardia Civil, the Spanish Police and the Ukrainian Security Service, which intercepted a 71-kilo heroin shipment bound for Catalonia.

More than 200 elected members of the European, Spanish and Catalan Parliaments and municipal councils from Catalonia have presented and started to sign on Wednesday an international complaint against the Spanish Government that will be sent to the United Nations, the European Parliament, the European Commission, the Council of Europe and Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). They are formally accusing the Spanish Government of "violating the right of the Catalan people to decide on its own political future" and "banning the exercise of democracy ". They list reasons of democratic legitimacy, stress the sustained self-determination demands and highlight the manifold Catalan attempts to negotiate and hold a legal vote. They also emphasise the Spanish Government's total blocking attitude and they announce that Catalan representatives "feel legitimate to launch all the necessary political and legal actions". Finally, they also ask those international organisations to act in order "to guarantee that Catalonia's citizenry can democratically decide on its future".