The Mossos d'Esquadra located twelve AK-47 assault rifles in the trunk of a Porsche Cayenne with French license plates that was parked in a rest area on the AP-7 in Figueres, in l'Alt Empordà. The discovery occurred around 01:40 on Wednesday during a routine check.
The intervention leaves an unusual paradox in an ordinary road device. The agents detected an arsenal of war in a car stopped on a thoroughfare while one of the men linked to the vehicle escaped before being identified.
A man fled from the Porsche and escaped in another car
When the Mossos approached the vehicle, a man of about thirty years of age abandoned it and fled in another car driven by a second individual. The agents could not intercept them at that moment.
Inside the car they found documentation that now focuses a part of the investigation. The Catalan police have opened proceedings to locate the man identified in those papers, clarify who the owners and transporters of the weapons are, and determine their final destination.
The car and the weaponry were placed under police custody. The Mossos transferred both to the premises of the Basic Police Area of Figueres for fingerprinting.
Girona DIC investigates if the twelve AK-47s are real
The Criminal Investigation Division of Girona has taken charge of the case and is working with the scientific unit to verify if the seized weapons are real. That examination will condition the classification of the facts and the criminal scope of the case.
The presence of twelve assault rifles in a single vehicle connects with a concern that the Mossos had already verbalized in Girona. Silvia Catà, commissioner of the Mossos d'Esquadra, placed the finding in a context of an increase in this type of weaponry in some police actions.
"We are increasingly finding long weapons in operations to dismantle marijuana plantations" - Silvia Catà, commissioner, Mossos d'Esquadra
The statement was made during the celebration of the Day of the Squadrons of the Girona Police Region. In parallel, the investigation opened in Figueres seeks to reconstruct the route of the Porsche Cayenne with French license plates and clarify who was supposed to receive the weapons.
For now, the Mossos transferred the vehicle and the twelve weapons to the Figueres Basic Police Area for their custody and to analyze the fingerprints found on the car and the weaponry.