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Barcelona Judge Orders Forced Seizure of Phones From Three Mossos Officers in Puigdemont Evasion Probe

Investigators will forensically extract communications to trace contacts around Puigdemont’s August 2024 return, a step the prosecutor backs as necessary to test possible coordinated assistance.

Overview

  • The order, dated December 9, authorizes the collection and forensic dumping, analysis, and study of seven mobile devices linked to officers Jordi Rodrigo, Xavier Manso, and David Goicoechea.
  • The review targets calls, SMS, and messaging-app traffic from July 8 to August 9, 2024, to verify any contacts with numbers tied to Puigdemont and to assess whether coordinated action occurred.
  • The court directed seven carriers—Orange, Masorange, Aire Network, Movistar, Vodafone, Digimóvil, and Más Móvil—to provide relevant communications data.
  • Judge María Antonia Coscollola deemed the measures proportionate and necessary after the Barcelona Provincial Court compelled the phone analysis that she had initially set aside.
  • Mossos Internal Affairs warned that messages may have been deleted or alternate phones used and cited limited telecom data retention, arguments the Fiscalía endorsed in supporting the seizures.