Spanish police confiscate official documentation to be incinerated by Mossos

The Catalan police emphasize that all official documentation is stored digitally, and that the practice of incinerating paperwork is ordinary

Spanish police agents load their vehicles with official documentation confiscated from the Mossos (by ACN)
Spanish police agents load their vehicles with official documentation confiscated from the Mossos (by ACN) / ACN

ACN | Barcelona

October 26, 2017 03:49 PM

Official documentation taken to be incinerated by the Mossos was confiscated on Thursday by Spanish police, despite the fact it is a normal Catalan police practice now that all official documents are stored in digital format.

When the Mossos arrived at the incinerator, located on the outskirts of Barcelona, they found Spanish police awaiting them and demanding that they hand over the documentation. One Mossos chief, however, replied that judicial authority was required for them to give over the documentation.

The Mossos said that the paperwork belonged to them and “in no case may it be handed over to third parties, if not done so with the appropriate request of a court order.”

More than thirty Spanish police agents were deployed, immobilizing and guarding two Catalan police vehicles carrying the material, until the judicial order arrived. When it did, Spanish agents transferred a large volume of the official documents to their own vehicles.

Most of the material that was destined for the incinerator on Thursday was administrative documentation related to members of the Catalan police, but also police reports among other types of documents, now in the hands of Spanish police.

The Catalan police force remarked that the incinerating of police documentation is “normal and ordinary” practice that is carried out regularly and with authorization, pointing out that all official documents to be destroyed are saved in digital format.

As the Catalan police do not have their own infrastructure in police stations to carry out incinerations of paperwork and documents that should not be stored on paper, it was added, they used the incinerator facilities located at Sant Adrià de Besòs for reasons of security and space.