A woman using her cell phone in the center of Barcelona. Gianluca Battista
“My phone was stolen twice,” explains a nail salon employee in Barcelona. One of the tourists walking through the city listens carefully. “I was riding my bike, I couldn’t do anything,” she adds of the final jolt that left her again without one of the devices that dominate most people’s lives. According to the Mossos d’Esquadra, the mobile phone is the most stolen item on the streets of Catalonia, with an average of 192 reports per day, more than half of them in the Catalan capital. In most cases, the person doesn’t even realize it and only a small percentage (18%) are violently robbed. The number does not include the terminals that thieves take when they enter a home.
Everyone is addicted to cell phone theft, police sources explain. From the opportunist who takes advantage of the moment and then gives the phone to whoever with minimal ability to unlock it, to professional criminal groups. In one of their last operations, the Mossos d’Esquadra arrested seven people who were using three floors as a reception area. Catalan police found 224 phones in houses in Barcelona that they suspect were stolen from their rightful owners through theft or violent robbery. In this case, the investigation traces a path that usually ends in Morocco, where phones get a new life.
The data shows that cell phones, converted into smartphones and whose prices continue to rise, have long been a sought-after item. In 2019, pre-pandemic, thefts peaked at 236 reports per day. Covid brought everything to a standstill, including crime, and since then normality has gradually returned. For statistical purposes, the Catalan police consider 2023 to be the first normal year. According to the data, 46,089 thefts were reported from January to August, 18.8% less than the same period in 2019, but 4.4% more compared to 2022. 80% (37,688) were stolen without the person noticing , due to carelessness or as a result of the skill of thieves. The rest are violent robberies (8,401), with about 35 reports per day.
Many of the thieves have found their best ally in Barcelona’s scooter and bike paths. They stealthily approach the person holding the phone in their hand or ear, barely tearing it out of their hand and fleeing at full speed until they get lost in the city. Police sources explain that the experts who work in public transport still persist in situations where the victim does not realize that he has been robbed until the headphones connected to the device stop playing Spotify music because the mobile phone is not plays more. It’s too far away. There are even those who wait for the beeping of the closing car doors to snatch the phone from their victim’s hand and jump out of the train leaving with the rightful owner in time, desperate and trying to understand what happened.
The Mossos d’Esquadra have stepped up the fight against repeat offenders, many of whom specialize in theft of cell phones, with concrete plans. Last year, 4.9% more violent cell phone theft perpetrators were arrested (787) than in 2019, despite crime falling by 26% over the same period. As for thefts, arrests remained stable compared to before the pandemic (773, 1.4% more), when there were 17% more complaints, and increased significantly compared to last year, with 27.8% of those arrested (773) compared to 5.3%. further complaints.
The receivers are another key element of the framework. During an operation last year, the Guardia Civil seized more than 1,000 stolen cell phones that were ready to be shipped to Morocco. The starting point of the investigation was a vehicle in the port of Tarifa (Cádiz) that was about to embark for the neighboring country. During the investigation, agents discovered an industrial warehouse containing hundreds of phones on pallets that came from various Spanish locations, including Barcelona. Police sources assure that they have also discovered much less sophisticated operations where the cell phone ends up being offered for sale on Wallapop or in cell phone stores.
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When the husband of the tourist who is grooming herself in a nail shop in Barcelona picks her up, she tells him everything she has heard about safety in Barcelona, which is not far from what happens in other major European cities. He confirms that they have already been warned. “We left everything at the hotel. No jewelry, no watches, nothing,” he says. She disagrees: “Yes, but on the street it is essential to use your cell phone and look at Google Maps to get to places.”
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