The dynamic is quick and discreet: an exchange of coins for small pills on the street, aiming to go unnoticed. However, plainclothes police officers have begun to intervene, as in a recent case where a buyer was found with several Lyrica pills and the seller was arrested for a public health offense.
These drug exchanges, common in Raval, include medications like Lyrica, used for nerve pain and anxiety, and Rivotril, a benzodiazepine for epilepsy. Both require a medical prescription but are subject to illicit trafficking.
Until now, the public prosecutor's office tended to archive cases of pill exchanges. This has now changed. Following an agreement between the Public Prosecutor's Office, the Mossos d'Esquadra, and the Guardia Urbana, this trafficking is considered a public health crime, and the first arrests are already taking place.
According to police sources, these medications are primarily consumed by young people who use them to disinhibit themselves and overcome fear before committing violent street robberies. Before the change in criteria, traffickers acted with a sense of impunity, carrying out exchanges in plain sight, even in front of the police. Now, the new directive has led to a wave of arrests.
Journalists have witnessed several arrests in a single afternoon on the Rambla del Raval. Sellers, known as 'camellos' (drug dealers), wait on street corners and conduct exchanges quickly. The price of a Lyrica pill can range from two to five euros, depending on whether the buyer is a regular customer. The police are also investigating the origin of these pills and whether individuals are obtaining them with prescriptions to resell them.
The dynamism of Raval also fosters other types of crimes. While a drug trafficker was being arrested, another young man snatched a gold necklace from a tourist, triggering a police chase that ended with the thief's arrest and the recovery of the jewelry.
