75 arrested in police operation to crack down on repeat offenders

A Mossos d'Esquadra Catalan police operation to crack down on repeat offenders ended in 75 arrests and 217 administrative reports on Saturday.

The officers targeted Barcelona, its metropolitan area including the Florida neighborhood in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, the Barcelona airport and the city's public transport network.

Officers are also investigating 20 individuals, and they seized five e-scooters or similar vehicles. They also retrieved a robbed vehicle.

Kanpai plan

The operation is part of the 'Kanpai plan' launched in April this year in order to tackle especially those thieves who commit frequent robberies and are considered professionals.

The Barcelona area is the main target of the scheme, but it has also been launched in the Tarragona, Girona and Lleida areas throughout the year.

Between April and June, that is, in the first two months of the 'Kanpai plan', the Mossos had already arrested 182 people with 915 criminal records, and made over 6,000 identity checks to people that summed over 12,000 criminal records.

The arrests by now are at least double the amount of June across Catalonia.

The police is making fresh efforts to curb repeat offenders after upgrading the 'Tremall plan' that had been in operation until this year and that ended in 452 arrests that had been related with 9,114 crimes.

The 'Kanpai plan' aims to go beyond the police sphere, and wants to help one of the challenges to fight habitual thieves: the collapse of the judicial system, which leads to delays in trials and more offenses in the meantime.