The Mossos d’Esquadra arrested one of their agents on Thursday morning for his involvement in Puigdemont’s escape, according to police sources. The arrested person is the owner of the vehicle that investigators believe was the former president The Catalan police have used the vehicle to flee after giving a short speech in Barcelona. The man is in the cells of the Les Corts police station in Barcelona and will be brought before a judge. The Catalan police have activated a cage operation shortly before ten in the morning, which they have maintained for three and a half hours, to locate this vehicle. With an arrest warrant in force, everything points to the fact that the former Catalan president has broken his promise to appear at the investiture plenary session. The Catalan police had planned to arrest Puigdemont, who had been on the run from justice for seven years, before the plenary session. Puigdemont’s alleged new escape, televised, and in front of a large police presence, with more than 300 agents mobilised, has caused astonishment in the police force itself. “Historical ridiculousness”, lament police commanders.
Everything points to Puigdemont having once again managed to slip past the Mossos, who had expected to arrest him on Thursday and bring him to court. Puigdemont arrived at Passeig Lluís Companys in Barcelona shortly before nine in the morning, made a brief speech, and surprisingly, disappeared at the moment when he was expected to walk escorted by the crowd to the Parliament. The police suspect that he is travelling in that white car, according to sources from the Mossos, who have shielded any official information about the plans to arrest the former Catalan president.
The cage operation has caused serious traffic difficulties in Catalonia. Active for three and a half hours (from just before ten to half past one), the Catalan police have carried out controls in the vicinity of Barcelona, also on the main motorways, as well as on the borders with France and Andorra, where the National Police and Civil Guard have reinforced their presence. Inspections have also been carried out on trains and in the port, and a helicopter has even been activated to try to arrest the former Catalan president. “The police do not deserve this, this shame. The chief commissioner, Eduard Sallent, the general director, Pere Ferrer, and the minister himself, Joan Ignasi Elena, must give all the explanations,” one of the main Mossos unions, Sap-Fepol, assured this newspaper through its spokesman, Toni Castejón.
The intelligence services have been planning the arrest of the former Catalan president for weeks. Since he announced that he would attend the investiture plenary session, after seven years on the run from justice, in Belgium, a plan for his arrest was outlined, still in its infancy, awaiting the manner in which Puigdemont would choose to return. Police sources suspect that Puigdemont has been in Catalonia since Tuesday. Unofficially, police officers have insisted that their mission was not to know Puigdemont’s exact whereabouts at any given moment, but to arrest him at the moment he was seen. “There is no active search,” they have insisted.
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The police plans did not foresee any last-minute surprises, and they worked on the hypothesis that it would be presented to the Parliament. Even during the negotiations, those responsible for the general information commission of the Mossos contacted the lawyer of the former presidentGonzalo Boye, to explore the possibility of agreeing to a discreet and prearranged arrest. Through his lawyer, Puigdemont rejected the offer. The call took place on June 12, a month after the regional elections, according to sources from the defence and police sources.
The Mossos closed the police operation on Monday, which has involved various meetings at the highest level. Under the direction of the intelligence services, the philosophy was similar to that applied in the arrest of former minister Clara Ponsatí, who gave a press conference at the Barcelona College of Journalists, and was arrested shortly afterwards in front of the Barcelona Cathedral. Just as then, Puigdemont’s arrest was delegated to a commander of the General Information Police Station. He would be brought before the court and then it would be up to Judge Pablo Llarena to decide the future of the former president: whether preventive detention or some kind of appearance with precautionary measures. “What a ridiculous thing we’re doing,” lamented another commander of the force. “This affects us all,” added another, while the search for Puigdemont is still active.
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