A group of ten masked men raided a house in Riudarenes where a marijuana plantation of 410 plants was hidden. The owner, Javier, was seriously injured by gunfire and a katana.
A violent gang of narco-robbers burst into a house in the Can Fornaca urbanisation of Riudarenes in the early hours of December 20. The target was not money or jewellery, but the 410 marijuana plants that the owner, Javier, kept on the upper floor. The assault, which left the owner seriously injured, was the second he had suffered in just a month.
Javier, a fictitious name to protect his identity, was startled awake by a loud noise. When he stepped outside, he found several masked men advancing towards him. "We're going to kill you, son of a bitch," they shouted. He managed to take refuge in the house, but the assailants surrounded the property and began shooting. Javier, who had hidden his wife and one-year-old son in a cupboard, responded with a gun he kept in the false ceiling of the bathroom.
The attackers did not stop shooting. A bullet hit Javier in the abdomen, and another in his left leg. Despite his injuries, he managed to reach the bedroom where his family was still hiding. One of the assailants drew a katana and inflicted a deep cut on his left hand, as well as multiple wounds to his legs and abdomen. "Give us the money and everything you have," they ordered in Spanish with an Arabic accent. Holding his intestines, Javier handed over 1,000 euros, two luxury watches, and several pieces of jewellery.
The gang fled after the assault. Javier's wife, in a panic, activated the SOS button of the private security. The Mossos d'Esquadra received the alert and arrived at the scene. During the attack, one of the assailants' balaclavas slipped down, and Javier recognised him: he was a young Maghreb man he often saw in a bar in Tordera.
The Mossos found a marijuana plantation with 410 plants in the house, as well as a complete setup: LED panels, transformers, air conditioning, carbon filters, fans, precision scales, and chemicals. The plantation was powered by tapping into the electricity supply. Javier was charged with drug trafficking after being admitted to the hospital in critical condition, although he managed to survive.
The police investigation was not complex. Security cameras captured the license plates of the vehicles used by the assailants, allowing their movements to be reconstructed. The gang, which had been engaged in narco-robberies for years, located marijuana plantations, monitored the owners, and attacked when the harvest was ready. They then resold the drugs to traffickers, even in the Quatre Camins prison, where an accomplice smuggled the merchandise in.
Investigators linked the gang to another robbery in 2019 in Sant Cebrià de Vallalta, where the victim was a Serbian citizen who also hid a plantation. The gang was dismantled weeks after the raid in Riudarenes.
The case highlights the increasing violence associated with illegal marijuana cultivation in the province of Barcelona, where indoor plantations have multiplied in recent years. The Mossos d'Esquadra maintain specific operations to dismantle these facilities and pursue the gangs that exploit them.
For the residents of Riudarenes, the incident has caused alarm. The Can Fornaca urbanisation, a quiet residential area, was shaken by gunfire and extreme violence. Authorities recommend that citizens contact the police if they notice any signs of suspicious activity.
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