Neighbours say they watched each other on stairs over drug den fear

Neighbours in a Barcelona apartment block say they lived for months in fear before police shut down a drug den in the building, describing how they would warn each other before going up the stairs.

Mossos d’Esquadra and Barcelona’s local police force, the Guàrdia Urbana, closed the illegal drugs premises at number 123 Carrer Viladomat on 8 October after repeated complaints from residents.

The case, which has since emerged in local reporting, centres on a flat in the Eixample district that was reportedly turned from a four-bedroom apartment into nine separate rooms before being sublet room by room.

According to neighbours, the atmosphere in the block deteriorated as strangers came and went throughout the day and night. Some residents said they felt safer using the lift than the stairs and would send messages in a WhatsApp group before entering the building after dark.

From room rental to drug dealing

Residents told reporters that the property first became a source of tension when renovation work began and the flat was remodelled. They said the person managing the property showed them several different flats before they settled on Viladomat.

That same person later allegedly controlled the comings and goings of tenants and was said to have become increasingly confrontational with them. Neighbours said the original landlord eventually left the building and disappeared after a court order was issued for the property.

They said a new couple later moved into the flat and turned it into a narcopiso, with people entering and leaving at all hours. The building’s entrance door glass was repeatedly smashed, leaving a damaged opening that could be used to reach inside.

Police moved in after months of complaints

Police intervention came after months of complaints from residents, who said the situation had become intolerable. The operation on 8 October brought the activity in the flat to an end.

Local outlets have also reported that the case formed part of a wider pattern of complaints about synthetic drugs in the city, though the details of this specific flat were the focus of the operation at Viladomat.

Neighbours interviewed about the block described a shared sense of vigilance and fear, saying they checked on each other before using the stairs and often avoided the building’s communal areas altogether.