Police in Catalonia have gone public with a warning about a stolen lorry similar to the one used in the 2016 Berlin Christmas market terror attack which killed 11 people.
The disappearance of the HGV has sparked concern because carnivals are about to start in the region.
The lorry – a 3.5 tonne Volvo with a white cabin and blue trailer – was taken from a haulage firm in Castellbisbal, a 45-minute drive north-west of Barcelona overnight on Sunday.
Police say the stolen truck is a 3.5 tonne Volvo with a white cabin and blue trailer – it was taken from a haulage firm in Castellbisbal, north-west of Barcelona overnight on Sunday
Police say the truck is similar to the vehicle used by terrorists in Berlin in December 2016 to kill 11 people at a market
Regional Mossos d’Esquadra officers have confirmed they are hunting the vehicle.
A theft by common criminals has not been ruled out, but Spain is currently on high terror alert and vehicles have become a favoured weapon of radical Islamic terrorists in the past couple of years.
Moroccan Younes Abouyaaqoub, 22, used a rented van to mow down and kill 22 people including British-born Julian Cadman, seven, in Barcelona’s famous Las Ramblas last August.
Police shot Abouyaaqoub dead in vineyards in Subirats an hour’s drive west of Barcelona after he went on the run following the Barcelona massacre. He was later buried in an unmarked grave in a funeral held in secret in his homeland.
Local reports said the stolen Volvo lorry – numberplate FL618 B250 – had the inscription J.Pou on the driver’s door next to a Spanish mobile phone number.
Younes Abouyaaqoub was the driver of the van that drove through Barcelona’s emblematic Las Ramblas promenade, killing 22 people and injuring many more last August
Moroccan Younes Abouyaaqoub was shot on August 21, 2017 near Sant Sadurni d’Anoia, south of Barcelona
The alarm was sounded on Tuesday.
An internal Mossos document, outlining a detailed description of the vehicle, said: ‘Between February 4 and 5 a 3.5 tonne lorry was stolen from the premises of a firm in Castellbisbal.
‘Given that we are currently on terror alert level four and next week activities are being held to coincide with annual carnivals, we feel it is appropriate that this information is broadcast as soon as possible.’
The police force confirmed in a tweet just before midday today/yesterday (WED) alongside pictures of the vehicles: ‘We are investigating the theft of this lorry in Castellbisbal.’
A spokesman insisted it was part of standard protocol to alert other police forces when a lorry of this sort had been stolen and said there was nothing at this stage to indicate it would be used for the purposes of terrorism.
A truck was deliberately driven into a Christmas market in Berlin on December 19 2016, leaving 12 people dead and 56 others injured.
Perpetrator Anis Amri was killed in a shootout with police near Milan in Italy four days later.
In July 2016 a Tunisian man deliberately drove a truck into crowds celebrating Bastille Day in the French city of Nice, killing 86 people.