There is an address in Barcelona that has been whispered to us by many local contributors.
It’s allegedly the headquarters for bag snatching and pickpocketing in the area around Santa Maria del Mar, Carrer Montcada, Carrer Princesa, Carrer Comerç and Rambla del Born.
We’ve heard stories about how empty bags are flung from the windows to the street below, empty, discarded, all valuables removed. The bags sit there mid-street for the cleaners, the police or a victim to later find.
The building at this address is for the most part squatted and those who lurk within use it for refuge.
It’s possible there are innocents who live here, and for this reason we’re not revealing the full address of the building, but we’ll refer to it as Carrer dBV18b… for those who know the city, and for those who are good at recognising locations from our accompanying photos, you won’t need any more information.
We’re writing about it here to let the robbers who reside within know that we know; we’re writing about it to let the police know that we know; and we’re writing about it to ask why the local government does nothing about it…
Here are a few shots of Carrer dBV18b. If you are robbed in the area, it’s likely your bag, rucksack or wallet will end up here. We don’t recommend you enter, but at least now you know.
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we heard a scream, people running along the street, looked out the window and saw no-one in the street, could hear them in other streets but not in ours…
then a man ran round the corner, clutching a bag in his hand, took a quite check behind him, and disappeared into dBV18b.
we rang the police, gave them the exact location, they arrived and told us they couldn’t enter and search the building, nor flats within it.
it’s a bloody disgrace!
with great frequency we hear people’s screams at the early hours of the morning as they’ve just been robbed and run round in vain trying to find their bags. while the thief is safely checking their haul in the safety of their own flat.
stay away from the Born area after midnight!
yes, there must be loads of innocent people in there who just want a peaceful place to live, but get rid of the thieves from that building who make living on that street and the neighbourhood a misery for everyone, who just wants a peaceful place to live.
I live next door and there is no doubt about, totally full of criminals however there is some slightly good news… Today I saw more and more police present and they were checking everyone in and out for ID and searching them and best of all not letting them enter! Unfortunately the police have since left and it’s back to good old crime as usual on BV.
I lived on the Ramblas for 16 years. I left two years ago. The police organise the crime passively in that they allow it to go on AND THEN THEY TAKE THEIR OWN PROFIT FROM IT. I know this as I HAVE SEEN IT MORE THAN ONE TIME WITH MY VERY OWN EYES. Anyone who lives in the area for that length of time sees just how organised the whole petty crime thing is. It’s the same with drug dealers. The police know damn well where and who they are – they just drop by now and again to take their cut of the profits.
In 20 years travelling to Barcelona, the petty crime hasn’t changed one bit. How is it that I could go down to the Ramblas and single-handedly point out who the thieves were, yet the police do nothing to stop them? Then of course they hide behind the weakness of the law, and there lies the rub for the police. They have two options: try to stop it (and it’s true the law does not help them much), or shrug your shoulders, “if you can’t beat ‘em join ‘em” and take their commission for allowing it to be as organised as any finely-tuned industry.
Excuses like the one given here for not entering a building where hundreds of people know that these crimes are being committed are typical of the Guardia Urbana and the awful military thugs of the ‘elite’ Mossos d’Esquadra. If this is so, then how come they could go into my friend’s apartment in the Raval, twice in one month this year (6 of them as well, each time) as one of his neighbours had complained about the music at 10.30pm on a Saturday night? Then as in the second post here, there is the usual show of force, pretending that they are really doing something to solve the problem, as with this building in this case. All they are really doing is moving their accomplices (the thieves) on to a new location.
It’s very sad that this taints Barcelona on a worldwide basis. It was one of the reasons I left. Police oppression on the one hand (traffic, terraces, even human statues), but organised prostitution and crime is always rife. Therein lies something else: their tactic of putting fear into the people so that no-one will speak out and complain. And of course, politicians will do nothing but turn a blind eye. They need the police well onside – especially in times like these.
But we know. We know what is going on. Thing is we are made to do nothing about it. And they said that Franco had died….
I agree, I have seen the Police turn a blind eye to a lot of things and makes me wonder why. I live on Nou De Rambla, you will see a countless beer sellers, selling beer, and the Mossos De E´squda have a station on this street. There is a café where they all go, and the biggest concentration of beer sellers is there.
After a while you get to know who is who, I see a man, he could be the police, as he seems to great them with hugs and handshakes all the time both uniformed and underover. Then I see the same man whom seems to be one of the supervisors of the beer sellers.
On the same street there is another bar whereas this same man and his mates go and play poker the last time I checked unless the bar has as license which none of the normal bars in Barcelona do its also against the law.