Only between Thursday and Sunday, Mossos d’Esquadra and the local police intervened 272 bladed weapons in Catalonia. Among other things, knives, machetes and pocket knives. At a rate of almost three per hour. Faced with the proliferation of these sharp objects, the Ministry of the Interior announced a “zero tolerance” plan in mid-September, through which controls were intensified in an attempt to eradicate them from public spaces. Last weekend, more than 800 devices were manufactured throughout the community, as part of the Daga plan.
Only in Barcelonathere were more than a hundred bladed weapons that the agents removed their carriers. In addition, as detailed by the Catalan Corps in a statement, it also seized other dangerous objects with “harmful capacity”, such as baseball bats, iron bars, brass knuckles and even a electric gun.
The police deployment was carried out in the so-called “enhanced protection spaces”, where researchers detected a potential risk, either due to their incidence of crime, commercial spaces, nightlife or large crowds, like the festivals of Lérida or Molins. .of Rei. Also on public transport, such as the metro.
The devices, in which citizen security, investigation, traffic, public order, canine and drone agents worked, will be maintained throughout the territory, due to the increase in the possession of bladed weapons. In fact, only between January and August of this year they have More than 6,200 have been seized by agents across Catalonia.compared to 3,800 for the whole of 2020.
This increase worries the Catalan police, which is why the strengthening of the Daga plan is structured around three axes: preventing, prosecuting and punishing – on the basis of current legislation – the possession of knives in public spaces. In addition to checks in areas of particular risk, other random checks are also carried out on means of transport, with the aim of imposing the corresponding fines, the minimum amount of which is 600 euros.
