Police file nearly 100 complaints after illegal New Year's rave

The Catalan police force, the Mossos d'Esquadra, has filed nearly 100 complaints for the illegal days-long New Year's rave in a warehouse in the Mataltes industrial estate in La Sénia, southern Catalonia. 

The police force identified 603 people and 207 vehicles, carried out 45 positive drug tests, and 37 administrative complaints under the Citizen Security Law: 27 for possession of drugs, 9 for regulated weapons, and one for disrespect to the authorities.

In addition, they filed a criminal complaint for driving without a license, 52 administrative complaints regarding traffic, and eight administrative acts for material related to the organization, since the organizers hid the sound equipment and the material in a false bottom of a truck.

More than 250 agents participated in the operation, distributed during the shifts and days that the illegal party lasted, which ended on Monday at 3pm.

Checkpoints were established at the entrances and exits of the area where people were identified and vehicle checks were carried out, as well as alcohol and drug checks to prevent traffic accidents.

Early on Monday, officers found that the warehouse had been dismantled. When the last vehicles and trucks linked to the rave left, material related to the organization was found, which allowed administrative proceedings to be brought against eight men responsible.

In one of the trucks, the police found material, such as professional sound equipment, wiring, a bar-type refrigerator, unlabeled alcoholic beverages and a cash register, hidden in a "deliberate" way.

Despite being located about 2km from the urban center, the party caused concern to locals in the area, especially among the owners of nearby farms. Some of the participants camped in nearby olive groves, where part of the harvest still remains on the ground waiting to be picked.