Aubameyang robbery and other robberies of footballers in Barcelona

Barcelona suffers more robberies and these are more violent. These are not the figures of 2019, when 17 people died of violent causes and there were 10,833 robberies with intimidation, but the safety of its streets is going from bad to worse. 

Crime has risen 43% so far in 2022, twice as much as in the same period last year. Tourism is one of the most important attractions because cruise ships allow thousands of people to disembark for hours in the streets and have to rush back before the ship departs, so there is no time for complaints. 

On the Ramblas there are a thousand robberies a week and the thieves have no problem in increasing the quality of their robberies by targeting Barcelona footballers who are treated almost like just another tourist. 

The Aubameyang case is the latest and most serious. A group of hooded men entered his house at gunpoint and beat him up in his own home along with his daughters and wife. The player lives in Castelldefels, a high-class area 20 km from Barcelona that footballers often choose. 

When the Gabonese player alerted the club and the Mossos, there was nothing they could do to stop the attackers, but it turned out that neighbours had already alerted the authorities to the presence of strange people around the area. 

Aubameyang and his family were taken by the club to a central Barcelona hotel where they have five rooms reserved for them to live in until they are ready to return. 

Messi, who still retains his home in the area, maintains a permanent security team to prevent burglaries and squatting while he resides in Paris. 

Robert Lewandowski was, until now, the last player to have been burgled. It was when he arrived at a training session with his car. The Pole stopped to sign autographs at the entrance to the sports ground when a young man was deft enough to grab his watch out of his hand and run off. The player alerted club security and chased the thief who was arrested and the watch, valued at 70,000, recovered, although the player's car suffered several blows. 

Ansu Fati was in the spotlight in 2021. Thieves broke into his home in Sant Cugat del Vallés when the player was watching the derby between Barça and Espanyol from the stands. The robbery took place upstairs while his family was downstairs also watching the match. 

The thieves threatened Arthur's brother, a former Barça player, with a machete and a screwdriver. While a Barça-Liverpool match was in progress, they broke into his house to take jewellery and a Rolex. 

Umtiti's home safe was also smashed in a robbery in 2019 during a Barça-Valencia match. Fortunately, no one was at home and only the missing items were missing. 

While Joan Piqué and Montserrat Bernabéu were asleep, thieves broke into the home of Barcelona player Gerard Piqué to steal. It did not transcend what they took in that 2018 hit, but it was not with violence. 

That same year, the Kojak gang, a criminal network that ransacked high-class villas in Castelldefels, broke into Luis Suárez's house, although they later declared that they did not know it was the Uruguayan's house. They stole jewellery, branded handbags and technological equipment.

Jordi Alba also suffered a robbery in 2018 while he was concentrating in Milan with Barcelona. Thieves gained access to the top floor via the garden while his family were downstairs. They took goods from the safe which they managed to open.