Spanish police have this morning confiscated documentation that the information unit of the Mossos (Catalan police) were taking to burn in their incinerator at Sant Andrià de Besòs in the north of Barcelona.
National Police Corps agents were waiting for the Mossos at the doors to the facility, some in uniform, some in plain clothes. They kept them for three hours waiting for the legal order requested from the National Audience court, from judge Carmen Lamela who is instructing in the case against the head of the Mossos, Josep Lluís Trapero.
The Spanish police suspect that the documentation that was to be destroyed is related to the 1st October referendum and could include details relevant to the investigation into the Mossos' inaction that day. If this were to prove true, it would serve as evidence against Trapero, accused of the crime of sedition.
The Spanish police were waiting almost three hours for the order. Meanwhile, they prevented all the documentation from being removed from a Mossos van and two unmarked cars to avoid it being destroyed.
Moments before the Spanish agents arrived, another group of Mossos had got to the facility with document which they were able to burn. The second group, however, remained blocked.
The Mossos go to the centre every Thursday to destroy old documentation, but today were met by the Spanish police.
The Spanish police took at least 30 boxes of documentation with them.