Year: 2014

On 31^st March 2014 GNR Albufeira arrested, a citizen aged 27 years, indicted for the crime of theft by carjacking of a passenger car.

The arrest followed a report of a car which had been stolen in Albufeira during which the driver had been assaulted.

Based on the report the GNR subsequently located the vehicle on the outskirts of Albufeira but there was no one inside. However following enquiries by the GNR officers and with a description of the suspect located the culprit in an area of the town about one and a half hours after the crime had occurred. The person was found to be in procession of items stolen from the car and was arrested.

The detainee is to appear before the Judicial District Court of Albufeira for application to be remanded in custody.

On 31^st March the Centre of Criminal Investigation GNR Silves conducted an anti-crime operation by executing a search warrant at a residence located house in the city Portimão.

The operation, which arose following an investigation into a crime of theft that occurred about a week ago and resulted in the arrest of a Portuguese citizen, 22 years, resident in Lagos, indicted for the crime of drug trafficking.

During the search 122 single doses of hashish, a greenhouse for growing cannabis, (comprising potted plants), an infrared lamp and a fan, were seized. Also seized were a camcorder, two mobile phones, an iphone, 20 clocks , two video game consoles, 4 melee weapons ( knives ), one  round of 7.62 calibre ammunition, a precision scale and a mill for grinding the narcotics.

The detainee, who has a criminal record for the crime of theft, will appear in the Judicial District Court of Portimão.

 

Welcome news for the Algarve is that preliminary crime statistics published by Direção-Geral da Política de Justica show that there were 23,060 recorded crimes in the Algarve in 2013, a decrease of 9.3% compared with the 2012. This is the lowest since 2001 and is the 5th successive year that crime has decreased in the region.

The national report indicates that in Portugal as a whole there were 376,336 crimes recorded, a decrease of 6.9% compared with 2012. Violent crime fell by a significant 9.5% to 20,147 cases.

Despite the downturn in crime, once again theft from vehicles across the country was the highest reported crime at 29,807 cases and this together with theft of vehicles represents about 11.8% of all reported crime. Although most crime categories decreased there were 22,247 cases of domestic violence, an increase of 3.1% making it the fourth highest recorded crime.

For the first time in four years however robberies inside residences decreased; registering 848 cases compared to 995 in 2012. Household burglaries also decreased by 11.7% to 22,206 cases. After some years of increasing cases of metal theft, 2013, showed a decrease of 11.5% from 15,171 to 13,426 cases compared with 2012. Pick pocketing decreased by some 6.6% but there was a significant increase of 19.8% in opportunist theft to 9625 cases. Unsurprisingly there was an increase in scams reported to police up by 759 to 12,287 cases and there were 1105 cases of bank fraud reported up by 267 cases.

The Algarve

Preliminary crime figures for the Algarve published by the Institute of National Statistics (INE) show that crime decreased in 11 of the 16 municipalities the exceptions being Vila do Bispo, Monchique, Lagos, Alcoutim and Olhão where there were slight increases. The biggest decrease was in Vila Real de Santo Antonio down 25%, followed by Silves down by 22%; Albufeira down 12.8% and Loulé where crime decreased by 11.8% to 3791 cases compared to 2012.

The significant decreases in overall crime in some of the inner areas appears largely attributable to decreases in crimes against property, which includes burglaries, theft from vehicles and other thefts, where in Silves and Loulé combined showed a decrease of 20.2%. Crime against persons which includes assault, robbery and, domestic violence stood at 4327 cases compared with 4477 in 2012. In the Algarve crime against property constitutes 66% of overall reported crime compared with 53.7% for the country as a whole, but crime against persons is only 19% of total crime compared with 22.4% nationally.

Geographically there tends to be more crime in the populated central areas of the Algarve. In the less populated eastern part of the region comprising Alcoutim, Tavira, Castro Marim and V.R.S Antonio 2110 crimes were reported which is just 9.3% of the regions total.

The reason why crime is decreasing is difficult to attribute to one single factor. During 2013 there have been a number of major successes in terms of police operations against criminal gangs and police commanders indicate that some overseas criminal elements have left the country. In terms of the Algarve, which is showing a more significant decrease in crime compared with the country as a whole, the likely reasons include: the increase in police personnel during the summer months; special programmes such as the GNR Safe Residence programme and the PSP Safe Destination programme together with greater awareness and preventative steps being taken by the community. Areas where more concerted effort is required is reducing the level of opportunist theft and minimizing ones exposure to scams.

It was reported on 27th March that the Judicial Police, through the Department of Criminal Investigation of Setúbal, with the collaboration of the Tax Authority and the GNR Special Operations Group, conducted a joint operation in the districts of Lisbon and Setúbal, which resulted in the arrest of four men and three women, suspected of practicing qualified tax fraud, corruption, money laundering and receiving crimes.

The investigation, which has been ongoing for over a year, was aimed at neutralizing the activities of this group whose activities was causing serious damage to the national economy.

During the operation over 70 kgs of gold, 150 kgs of silver, approximately € 1 million in cash, several dozens of diamonds, five cars, a boat and two motorcycles, as well as innumerable documents were seized.

Part of precious materials seized were the result of the commission of crimes against property, as well as unreported transactions performed by individuals. Detainees will appear in court at the first application for judicial interrogation.

Comment

According to Gold Price.org the value of the gold seized is approximately € 2.1 million and the silver is worth approx € 70,000

Two men aged 20 and 21 were arrested by the GNR Albufeira on 25th March 2014, at 20:00 hours following a theft at a major shopping center store.

A warning was given by staff to the GNR that two individuals had stolen a number of garments.

They were taken to the GNR station and notified to appear in court.

It was reported on 18th March that a Spanish couple were arrested by GNR Loule, in Vale de Eguas having come from Spain to purchase drugs here in Portugal.

The GNR stopped their vehicle and found a total of 375 doses of heroin in their possession. A Portuguese national was also identified in selling the drugs to them. It has been reported in the local media that the couple came from Ayamonte and Huelva in Spain due to the shortage of drugs supply in that area.

The Judicial Police, following an investigation against against organized trafficking in narcotic drugs, carried out in recent days, a major operation that culminated in the arrest of seven people, six men and a woman, alleged to be involved in drug trafficking.

The detainees comprising three residents of the Porto area and four from Coimbra district, are suspected of constituting a network that supplied the downtown area of various types of narcotics, including heroin, cocaine, cannabis and ecstasy.

The operation conducted in the central and northern areas of the country, resulted in addition to the arrests Judicial Police seizing about 17,600 doses of hashish (about eight kilograms), 1800 doses of heroin, 300,000 thousand doses of cocaine, fifty doses of ecstasy, three precision scales, a grinder, a colander, a melee weapon, a gun, a car and €10,315 in cash.

The detainees, aged between 18 and 47, some of them with criminal records for the same type of crime, were appeared at the first court hearing, probation having been applied to two of them and the other periodic presentations to the authorities and prohibition of contacts between them.

On 14th and 15th of March, the GNR throughout the country conducted an operation involving the control and surveillance at international and national railway stations located within its area of responsibility, with the aim of combating crime.

Various units were involved including SEPNA. The operation took place at: 197 railway stations, on 202 trains, involving 728 passengers and 1469 items of baggage. In total three individuals were arrested for drug trafficking and illegal immigration, 4210.85 doses of hashish and 9.6 doses of heroin were seized. One of those arrested was a Moroccan national who alighted from an AP train in Tunes, Algarve in which drugs to the value of around €10,000 were discovered in his rucksack.

The “7th 24BLUE RAIL ACTION DAY” operation is an initiative of the European organization RAILPOL (European Police Railways Network), of which the GNR is a member. The aim is to conduct simultaneous controls at the main European railway lines, with a view to increasing safety in railways and combating crime, as well as strengthening cooperation between Member States.

The operation focused at cross border crime in the country as well as the following types of crime: thefts / robberies in trains and stations; theft of non-precious metals at stations, lines, trains and signalling; illegal immigration , drug trafficking; related to aggressive or antisocial behaviour and related freight train graffiti crime and criminality, damage, vandalism.

On 15th March the GNR Coastal Control sub-division Vila Real de Santo António stopped, at 17:00 hrs a foreigner aged 40 years and seized approximately 550 kilos  of hashish, a vessel and a towing vehicle.

When the GNR arrived at the fishing port to inspect the vessel, they encountered two individuals in the process of towing it out of the water. One of the suspects then fled and the other tried to escape using a private car but was apprehended.

After a brief search, it was found that the vessel had a false bottom, which contained within it about 17 bales of hashish.

The Judicial Police have passed to the Public Prosecutor of the Court in Lousa, the conclusion of their investigation into a criminal network which included two PSP agents responsible for carrying out 20 burglaries and robberies in Celhos da Lousa, Coimbra.

The two PSP agents had earlier been arrested by the Judicial Police. One of those arrested was caught in September 2013 breaking into a house in Lousa using a service weapon. During the incident it is alleged that he assaulted the occupant using the butt of his weapon.

It is reported that the houses targeted had been specially selected as the owners were known. The PSP agents have been charged with criminal association, theft, robbery and receiving stolen goods.