BARCELONA has been plunged into a violent crime wave as brutal turf wars push monthly incidents to unprecedented levels.
New data reveals an extraordinary month-on-month surge in raw street violence, with stabbings exploding four-fold from nine in April to 44 in May across the province.
Shootings have also doubled over the same period, jumping from six in April to 12 in May to cap a bloody total rise of 50% since March.
Out of the 44 knife attacks recorded in May, 40 caused serious injuries and four were fatal.
Gun murders have now exactly doubled year-on-year across the region.
Stabbing injuries accounted for 80% of all violent incidents tracked during May, while gunshots made up 10% of casualties, and fatal stabbings accounted for 8% of the month’s total bloodshed.
A total of four people were shot dead in broad daylight executions between January and May, compared to two during the exact same period last year.
The capital is the undisputed epicentre of the wave, with Barcelona logging 13 stabbings and a fatal shooting in May alone.
But the crisis is also striking deep into satellite towns and major Costa Brava holiday hotspots.
L’Hospitalet de Llobregat ranked second with three stabbings and three shootings, followed closely by Badalona with two stabbings and three firearms incidents.
The popular tourist resort of Lloret de Mar ranked fourth on the regional violence index after being rocked by three stabbings and a shooting during May.
Vicious gangland executions have marked the bloody five-month surge, with international drug cartels operating with impunity across the region.
In Poblenou, a professional hitman executed a top mafia boss belonging to one of Montenegro’s ruthless Kotor clans in broad daylight on a busy bar terrace.
In Zona Franca, a man was gunned down in the middle of Calle de la Mineria and died instantly on the concrete.
A Romanian national was also shot dead during a violent clash inside a Badalona karaoke bar.
In L’Hospitalet, a Dominican youth was executed at night in a public park as part of an ongoing street war between rival Latin gangs.
The violence spilled into pure horror during a single bloody weekend when a 10-year-old girl was struck by a stray bullet in Badalona.
The innocent child was hit in the middle of the street during a wild gangland gunfight in the Sant Roc neighbourhood.
That same weekend, a South American gunman shot and wounded a Maghrebi youth in L’Hospitalet before escaping.
Meanwhile, a Maghrebi man was shot in the leg while attempting an armed raid on a hidden marijuana plantation in Tordera.
In a separate horror attack on May 2, a 41-year-old Chinese woman was stabbed to death in broad daylight in Esplugues de Llobregat in what has been described as a random attack.
The victim, a co-owner of a Barcelona restaurant who moved to Spain just one year ago, was killed on Calle Joan Miro in Finestrelles while walking to her bus stop.
READ MORE: Young woman is stabbed to death in wealthy Barcelona suburb as attacker is arrested at gunpoint
A brave neighbour who rushed to her aid was also slashed before Mossos d’Esquadra cornered and arrested the knifeman on Avenida Diagonal.
Police sources admit Catalunya has become the ‘marijuana garden of Europe’ as brutal foreign crime groups kit themselves out with military-grade weapons.
Frontend officers recently intercepted a major smuggling shipment across the northern border, seizing 10 automatic AK-74 assault rifles from the boot of a Porsche Cayenne destined for drug traffickers.
A separate criminal network run by a Turkish mafia was also dismantled for systematically trading black-market firearms for bulk marijuana to export to northern Europe.
Police sources claim that the crisis is being normalised, blaming a judicial system that they claim treats heavily armed foreign drug syndicates with complete ‘benevolence’.
Frontline police union USPAC has blown the lid off a toxic management crisis, blasting progressive politicians for writing off the bloodshed as mere ‘perceptions’.
Union bosses have also revealed that active street patrols are diminishing, pointing the finger at police chiefs for ‘hoarding healthy officials in comfy administrative desk jobs’.
Frontline officers, meanwhile, are left overworked and ‘burnt out’ as they face highly organised gangs with dwindling operational resources.
A spokesman for the USPAC union said: “While shootings, firearms and criminality increase, the operational resources available to the police on the streets of Catalunya are actively decreasing.”
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