When you picture a police station late on a Sunday night, you might imagine paperwork, lukewarm coffee and a few tired officers waiting for their shift to end. What you do not expect is a visitor casually helping himself to cocaine in the waiting room. Yet that is precisely what unfolded in Granollers, a town in Catalonia, where an ordinary evening veered into the sort of scene that would make even seasoned officers blink twice.
an unexpected visitor at the station
It was around half past eleven when a man in his thirties walked into the local police station and asked to speak with an officer. Nothing unusual so far. Many stations see unpredictable drop ins at odd hours – I once heard an officer say the night shift can feel like hosting an open house for human drama.
Since he refused to explain why he had come, he was politely guided to the waiting area, the kind of neutral space designed for calm, quiet reflection. Instead, things took a rather surprising turn.
a surreal moment in the waiting room
As he sat alone, the man reached into his pocket and pulled out a small plastic bag. Officers nearby would later recount how they watched him open it and dip his finger inside, as casually as someone testing icing on a cake. The contents, however, were not sugar but cocaine.
Realising what he was doing, officers approached and asked for his identification. At that point, he became visibly agitated, a reaction that escalated to the point where it took several minutes to restrain him safely. Police forces such as INTERPOL regularly stress the unpredictable behaviour linked to drug consumption, especially in stressful or unfamiliar settings.
more discoveries at home
Following his arrest, officers conducted a search of his home, where they seized more than twenty grams of cocaine. What they did not find, ironically, were his identity papers. He was taken into custody for possession and consumption of drugs, before being transported to hospital for medical checks – a standard procedure recommended by health authorities such as the World Health Organization when dealing with individuals who may be under the influence.
a night no one expected
For the officers on duty, it was one of those cases that starts with a simple request for assistance and ends with a story they will probably repeat for years to come. For the man involved, it became a lesson in why police stations are perhaps the least advisable places to test illicit substances.
It is not every day that someone walks into a station voluntarily and leaves in handcuffs, but the episode serves as a reminder of how unpredictable human behaviour can be – especially when drugs are part of the picture. And while the officers eventually regained control of the situation, one imagines they may approach the waiting room with a little more caution on their next night shift.
