Lorraine Williamson
Five masked men dressed as police officers intercepted a car on the AP-7 near Barcelona before dragging a passenger from the vehicle and abducting him in front of other motorists. The extraordinary attack is being investigated by the Mossos d’Esquadra, with a possible drugs-related dispute among the lines of inquiry.
Five masked men posing as police officers kidnapped a man after surrounding the car in which he was travelling on the AP-7 near Barcelona. The attack happened at around 7.30 pm on Saturday, 19 September, as the motorway passes through Montornès del Vallès in Barcelona province.
Other motorists witnessed the incident and contacted Spain’s 112 emergency service after becoming suspicious that what initially appeared to be a police operation was something very different. Videos recorded from vehicles caught in the resulting traffic captured parts of the abduction, which unfolded in less than a minute.
Victim dragged from car in front of motorists
The five men were dressed in dark clothing and wearing items intended to make them look like police officers, while their faces were covered. Two vehicles were used to trap the car carrying the victim before the group approached and forcibly removed the passenger.
Footage recorded by witnesses shows the injured man being dragged across the road and taken to another vehicle. One motorist who contacted 112 reported seeing what appeared to be firearms in the hands of the kidnappers, although investigators have not officially confirmed that guns were used.
The victim was found hours later elsewhere in the Vallès Oriental with injuries that were not considered serious. The Mossos d’Esquadra’s Criminal Investigation Division, DIC, has taken charge of the case and, as of Tuesday evening, no arrests have been announced.
Investigators have yet to establish a definitive motive. One of the principal lines of inquiry is whether the kidnapping was connected to a dispute involving drug trafficking, although police are continuing to investigate the circumstances surrounding the attack.
Third abduction investigated in Catalonia
The AP-7 case is one of three recent violent abductions being investigated in Catalonia. The latest was reported in Barcelona’s Sant Martí district in the early hours of Monday, when witnesses called police after seeing a 22-year-old man being forced into a car by four masked people while shouting for help.
The victim was found hours later near a petrol station in Salt, Girona, with injuries. According to reporting on the investigation, he told police that his captors had demanded that he settle a debt. No arrests had been announced in connection with the case by Tuesday.
The two cases follow another violent abduction in Gavà, where a motorcyclist was reportedly shot before being kidnapped and taken away in the boot of a vehicle. Taken together, the three incidents have raised concerns over a recent succession of violent criminal disputes in Catalonia, although investigators have not established that the cases are directly connected.
Mossos are investigating the circumstances surrounding the cases, with suspected criminal score-settling featuring in the inquiries. The AP-7 attack remains particularly striking because five men posing as police officers were able to carry out the abduction in full view of motorists on one of Spain’s busiest roads.