The Ministry of the Interior has sent this Tuesday to the Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarena a report in which it distances itself from the failed operation to arrest the former president of the Generalitat of Catalonia Carles Puigdemont last Thursday, and places all responsibility for the fiasco on the Mossos d’Esquadra. Fernando Grande-Marlaska’s department states in the document – five pages long and to which EL PAÍS has had access – that, once Puigdemont assured on July 27 in a public event that he intended to go to Barcelona supposedly to attend the investiture plenary session of the socialist Salvador Illa, “the political and operational leaders” of the autonomous police informed the ministry that they were going to launch “a specific and special device” to proceed with the arrest of the leader of Junts once he was located “and the operationally suitable circumstances” for it were given. The operation designed by the Mossos included the transfer of the former president to Madrid once he was arrested “if so agreed by the Supreme Court.”
The Interior Ministry says that, after receiving this information, it offered the Catalan police “any operational support they needed from the National Police and the Civil Guard to sustain and fulfil the achievement of the objectives of the Mossos special plan”. However, it details that, ultimately, “such support was never required beyond that normally provided through the operational coordination table and the exchange of information and intelligence”. Grande-Marlaska’s department concludes that, from the analysis carried out on the actions of the National Police and the Civil Guard that day, it has not detected in the “chain of command” of both bodies “any action that has negatively affected the effective achievement of the objective of arresting former president Mr Puigdemont”.
In the document sent to Judge Llarena, the Interior Ministry points out that, after learning of the Mossos’ plans, it decided not to order the National Police and the Civil Guard “to implement ad hoc of other public security and public order services parallel to the one they were going to implement” those around the Parliament. In this sense, Grande-Marlaska’s department stresses that it adopted this decision because the Statute of Autonomy gives the Catalan police the competence and operational capabilities “as a comprehensive police force in matters of public security, judicial and criminal investigation police and administrative police”, the same message that several members of the Government have launched in their public statements since the escape occurred to distance themselves from the failed arrest.
The ministry adds that, despite everything, it did order the National Police and Civil Guard to keep “specially active before and during” that Thursday the controls at borders, ports and airports – where they retain the powers – as well as in the city and metropolitan area of influence of the Catalan capital in case Puigdemont was located. All of this was part of the “services” that it had active “throughout the national territory to detect and arrest the fugitive” since there was an arrest warrant in force against him.
The document adds that once it was confirmed that the former president had evaded the Mossos deployment around the Parliament in a vehicle, “the National Police and Civil Guard information and intelligence services were specially activated”. At the same time, the Interior Ministry gave instructions to the Chief of Police and the General Head of the Civil Guard Zone in Catalonia, through the Government delegate, so that “the extraordinary operational and intelligence resources of both bodies in Catalonia were activated to locate and proceed with the arrest of the fugitive”. This included a “joint operation” of both police forces in the vicinity of the Parliament during the afternoon of the same Thursday “in the event” that Puigdemont returned and tried to access it “to participate in the remaining part of the investiture act and vote for the candidate” in the autonomous Chamber.
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At the same time, the Interior Ministry ordered that “police controls be intensified in Catalonia and in the surroundings of all border crossings, including ports and airports.” Controls were also put in place on roads, especially those leading to or close to the border with France. The document details the places in the provinces of Lleida and Girona where these controls were installed, some “fixed” and others “random,” including the rural road that gives access to France through the Coll de Banyulls, in the latter province. These “reinforced” measures lasted from the moment the escape was known until midnight on Saturday 10 August, the Interior Ministry emphasises.
The Interior Ministry report is a response to the request for explanations made by Judge Llarena the day after the escape to both the ministry and the Mossos. Given the arrest warrant in force against the leader of Junts, any security force had the obligation to arrest him as soon as he set foot on Spanish soil. But Puigdemont was able to enter the country and give a public rally in front of 3,500 people without being arrested. For this reason, the magistrate turned to the Grande-Marlaska department – on which the National Police and the Civil Guard depend – to explain “what was the operation initially approved and arranged for his detection at the border and subsequent arrest”; “the elements that determined its failure from a technical police aspect”; “as well as the orders that were issued for his detection at the border and eventual arrest after his escape.” He also wanted to know which agents “designed, approved and executed” this plan. Most of these questions remain without concrete answers in the report.
In its response, the Interior Ministry stresses that Puigdemont’s arrest “has been, is and will be, until it is carried out, an operational objective for all police units and services” dependent on the ministry since the first arrest warrant was issued against him in November 2017 and that, in fact, when it was updated on June 11, it proceeded to transfer it to the security forces, including the autonomous bodies. However, it recalls that Spain is part of the Schengen Agreement – which includes 23 countries of the European Union, including France, as well as Switzerland, Norway and Iceland – which guarantees the free movement of people with the elimination of permanent controls of people at the internal borders of the EU, which makes it difficult for “any police control device to guarantee absolute impermeability, even with prior information or legal control or monitoring devices”.
The Interior Ministry explains to the judge that, although the Schengen Agreement opens the possibility of temporarily re-establishing border controls, the measure must be justified before the European Commission and the other Member States by the existence of “a serious threat to public order or internal security” of an “exceptional” nature, such as the NATO summit held in Madrid in June 2022 or the health crisis caused by Covid-19. A situation that the Interior Ministry considers was not present with the announced return of Puigdemont to Spain, which is why Judge Llarena is told that it was not “justified” to re-establish border controls on those days.
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