Barcelona Police Bust Massive International Phone Theft Ring, Seize 1,000+ Stolen Devices

This operation is the result of an investigation opened at the beginning of last year, following complaints of mobile phone theft. About twenty people were arrested and 1,022 stolen smartphones were seized after searches carried out in various apartments and commercial establishments in Barcelona. The seized phones could be sold for 400,000 euros on the black market. The Mossos also seized 74 computers, 32 tablets, 15 dataphones and 43,000 euros in cash, reports La Vanguardia.

"This operation is the biggest blow the Mossos d’Esquadra have dealt in Catalonia in terms of mobile phone theft," said Lisard Hidalgo, chief inspector of the Barcelona Criminal Investigation Division (DIC). The criminal network active in the Raval district was buying stolen mobile phones in the Catalan capital, but also in various regions of Catalonia, and even abroad, particularly in Lisbon and Milan.

The thieves of the phones managed to access the owners’ bank data and made purchases in small shops and supermarkets in the region, in complicity with the criminal network. For the moment, the police have discovered a fraud of around 25,000 euros with the stolen mobile phones. After that, the devices were transported to Morocco to be sold on the black market. The blocked phones are sent to China where they are decoded and resold.

Out of the 1,022 mobiles recovered by the police, 171 owners have been identified. The Mossos plan to create a section on their website soon to facilitate the location and identification of the device by its owner. According to police figures, an average of 155 mobile phones were stolen per day in Catalonia during the first half of this year and 1,180 people were arrested during this period, nearly half of them in Barcelona.