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Ahead of the October 2017 indyref, the former commissioner said the CNI boss “wanted to give Catalonia a fright, but miscalculated the consequences”.
A total of 16 people died in the attacks – known as 17-A – including a woman who died as five members of the jihadist cell launched a knife attack on the beachfront at Cambrils, having driven there the day after the Barcelona attack.
All five men were shot dead by police. Three men who helped in the attacks were last year sentenced to jail terms of between eight and 53 years.
It later emerged that the alleged mastermind of the attacks, an imam in the city of Ripoll, was a CNI informant.
Villarejo is something of an “off the reservation” figure and has been involved with numerous “secret” operations with the CNI.
He has spent more than three years in custody and his remarks were made in court during a case involving police spying allegations.
The former commissioner said he could prove everything he had claimed: “All the evidence is in my archives. I authorise their release.
“We must think that the citizenry is not a minor and the law of secrets cannot be used to hide everything. It is an obsolete Francoist law from 1968.”
His claims triggered anger in Catalonia, where the government was considering a legal response.
Catalan President Peres Aragones said on social media: “17-A was a barbarity that has marked us forever. And if Villarejo’s words are true, explanations are needed now.