The owner of a waste management company has been arrested

The Mossos d’Esquadra have arrested three men and a woman who are repeat offenders for the theft of copper cable on the Barcelona – Montcada i Reixac (Barcelona) train line that paralyzed Rodalies during the elections in Catalonia on May 12.

In a statement this Friday they explained that, as a result of these events, the Catalan police activated Scientific Police officers to carry out visual inspections.

The Central Structural Fire Unit ruled out that it was sabotage, and the main line of investigators from the Criminal Investigation Division (DIC) was that they were “before a criminal group specialized in copper cable thefts.”

The detainees have around 20 criminal records for similar events, and the Mossos d’Esquadra believe that they have participated in six events linked to the theft of copper on the railway lines in the Barcelona district between May 1 and May 22.

Among those detained is the owner of a waste management company, who is also allegedly related to the criminal group, since he allegedly acted with connivance with the detainees when receiving the stolen material, for which he is charged with a continuing crime. reception.

A man and woman were arrested in Esparreguera (Barcelona) by private security guards from Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya and by the Local Police of the municipality, after an electrical outage occurred that affected railway traffic.

The other two investigated were detained this Thursday, one in Santa Perpètua de Mogoda and the other in Sabadell (Barcelona).

During the investigation, the agents detected that the detainees “always addressed the metals manager himself”, and that the owner of this company twice refused inspections by the Mossos d’Esquadra, for which he was sanctioned for non-compliance. of the regulations.

STOPPED ROLES

The detainees “maintained a constant relationship with this waste management company in which they placed the stolen material,” and those arrested had different roles to act.

One of the men and the woman, aged 52 and 24, were in charge of committing the abductions; A third, 26 years old, had executive functions – he was the owner of the investigated vehicles and was in charge of dealings related to the receipt of the stolen material -, and the fourth was the owner of the waste management company, where the detainees placed the stolen material.

The agents have verified that they were traveling in a van and a vehicle; They loaded the stolen copper into the first vehicle; They used two poles to lower the cable from the catenary, and they cut it with a radial one.