A CATALUNYA police officer has been arrested for the spate of lorry tyre-punctures on the AP-7 motorway through the provicne of Barcelona.
The accused, a Mosso d'Esquadra aged 51 from Montmeló, had been off work since September and is believed to have been acting alone.
At least 50 lorries were affected in total on two occasions on the same stretch of motorway, between Kilometre 136 and Kilometre 149 southbound.
Reports on December 1 said a number of sharp metal objects had been found on the highway after 13 lorries suffered flat tyres all at once, some time around 04.00 in the morning.
At first, it was thought that another HGV had shed part of its load.
Later, on December 5, a near-identical incident was reported at about 01.00 between Cerdanyola del Vallès and Sant Cugat del Vallès, with over 30 lorries suddenly grounded.
The presence of so many HGVs on the hard shoulder led to a six-kilometre tailback which lasted most of the day.
As yet, it has not been made clear why the off-duty officer perpetrated this act of sabotage.
It led to thousands of euros' worth of damage to delivery vehicles, which is unlikely to have been covered by insurance.
