Man Kidnapped on AP-7 in September Escapes Second Abduction Attempt
The man filmed being kidnapped on the AP-7 escaped a new abduction attempt. Mossos say more than fifteen such cases hit Catalonia in 2026.
The man whose kidnapping on the AP-7 motorway was filmed by passing drivers in September has been attacked again. On the night of Thursday, Nov. 12, a group beat him with baseball bats and tried to force him into a car, but he broke free and ran, injured, according to ElCaso.com.
The Mossos d’Esquadra (Catalonia’s police) are investigating and have confirmed it is the same victim, the outlet reported. Reports differ on where it happened: the headline places the attack in Montornès del Vallès, while the body of the report puts it in Sabadell, in the Vallès Occidental area of Barcelona province.
What the victim told police
By his account, he had arranged to meet some people. When he got to the meeting point he found two groups of vehicles and five or six people waiting. They hit him with bats and tried to push him into one of the cars. He managed to slip away before they could drive off with him.
He was then taken to a medical centre in Sabadell, where officers took his first statement. The Divisió d’Investigació Criminal (DIC, the Mossos criminal investigation unit) of the Metropolitan North police region has taken over the case. Its job is to identify the attackers, work out the motive and establish whether the attack is connected to the September kidnapping.
Investigators say the man is not cooperating much, which makes it harder to check his story and piece together what happened. He had left prison shortly before the first kidnapping, ElCaso.com reported. Police have not yet said whether the same people carried out both attacks.
The September kidnapping on the AP-7
In the first case, drivers on the motorway recorded a group of men who looked like police officers pulling the victim out of a car he was sharing with his partner and forcing him into another vehicle. He was beaten and left, injured, a few hours later. At the time, police connected the kidnapping to a failed deal to buy and sell a large load of hashish in the same county.
The video spread widely and drew attention to so-called express kidnappings, short abductions that investigators mostly tie to disputes between people involved in drug trafficking.
Why it matters for people in Catalonia
The Mossos say more than fifteen express kidnappings or attempted kidnappings have been recorded in Catalonia so far in 2026, most of them connected to the drug trade. The force gives few details about its investigations, but sources in the Mossos told ElCaso.com that the use of guns, beatings and abductions on public streets point to an escalation of violence that worries the DIC.
The cases mainly involve people in organized crime and the drug business. They still happen in public places, though: on a motorway in daylight traffic, in car parks and at meeting points in towns around Barcelona.
An earlier case in Sabadell
On Oct. 21, also in Sabadell, Mossos officers backed by the Brigada Mòbil (the riot and rapid response unit) stopped what they suspected was a planned kidnapping in a car park on the N-150 road. They arrested four men of North African origin who had entered Catalonia from France. Officers seized a Glock pistol, an AK-47 assault rifle, balaclavas and cable ties, which strengthened suspicions that the group was preparing an abduction.
The DIC is still working to establish who attacked the AP-7 victim on Nov. 12 and whether the two attacks on him are connected.
Source: El Caso
