Month: October 2015

On Monday 12^th October a flight a Monarch Airlines flight ZB983 en-route from Funchal to Birmingham was intercepted by a French fighter aircraft. The flight had departed at 1040 hrs and the incident took place when the Airbus A321 was flying over French airspace.

The air traffic control lost contact with the aircraft. Immediately, the security protocol was triggered and a Mirage fighter of the French Air Force was sent and intercepted civil aircraft. Communication was then achieved.

The images of the ‘encounter’ were released on Wednesday. One of the 189 passengers said  ‘It was right by our window. It was so close you could see the pilot. It seemed to follow us and there was a small amount of panic – everyone on our plane stood up to have a look.

‘Some people were anxious. My husband asked if the pilot would make a statement but he didn’t speak to us during the whole flight. We fly that route several times a year and it’s very unusual.

A Monarch spokesman said a ‘military aircraft’ was launched following the loss of communication – standard procedure in such circumstances.

He said: ‘Monarch Airlines can confirm that Flight ZB983 from Funchal to Birmingham on October 12 was out of communication for a very short time while in French airspace.

‘As is standard procedure when any loss of contact occurs, military aircraft were launched to intercept the aircraft.

‘Communication with air traffic control had been re-established by the time the intercept.

The Judicial Police, through the Lisbon Board and Tagus Valley, have identified and arrested a man, aged 55 years and a woman aged 44 years for committing sexual abuse against a child.

The investigation found that the victim, a girl now aged 13, had in recent months, been sexually abused by the male detainee. This had the compliancy of the victim’s mother who allowed the abuse to take place repeatedly at her residence located in the district of Lisbon.

The victim is the bearer of mild cognitive impairment and also has great mobility limitations. The detainees were present at the first judicial interrogation, having with an application that they are placed under preventive detention.

On 13th October the Lisbon Metropolitan Police Command through the division of criminal investigation, with the collaboration of the special operations group, conducted an operation between 1700 and 1800 hrs in the area of Telheiras and Amadora

This followed a 6 month investigation and resulted in the arrest of two men, aged 47 and 33 years suspected of trafficking in drugs.

The Detainees were the main responsible for the supply of narcotic drug, particularly heroin, in the area of greater Lisbon.
Following investigation and after collection of all the available information, the PSP concluded that a transaction would take place involving a large quantity of drugs between the two detainees. The operation was planned to apprehend them during the transaction.

Following a house search the following was seized:

• EUR 76.300 in cash;
  • 42 kgs of heroin about 423.000 single doses

  One of the detainees has a criminal record for a similar crime. They have appeared before appropriate court and have been placed in custody.

The Spanish National Police have arrested 89 people including those responsible for a criminal network dedicated to the trafficking of human beings. The network was made ​​up of people of Chinese nationality and Pakistan and aimed to introduce Chinese citizens in the UK, Ireland, Canada and the United States. They used Spain as a transit country moving to the people who dealt with patera floors in Barcelona, ​​Badalona, ​​Santa Coloma de Gramenet and waiting for the forged documentation.

The members of this organization were paid an average of 20,000 per trafficked, threatening their families in case of not meeting the agreed amount. Had links with other similar organizations settled in Spain and other countries, reaching macro function as a criminal organization, why international cooperation has been essential to the investigation.

Investigations agents began following numerous arrests in Spain of people of Asian descent who wanted to board flights nationalities identified as counterfeit Administrative Region of Macao Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong, Korea, Japan documents, Malaysia, Singapore, Portugal and Taiwan.

Once introduced into Spain by boat they remained hidden in apartments in Barcelona, ​​Badalona and Santa Coloma de Gramenet. To avoid detection by police checks, the criminal network forced them to move house regularly while waiting for a new forged documents to get to the destination country, because the initial documentation used to introduce them in Spain was withdrawn immediately.

That second documentation that needed to reach the requested countries was forged by the network in China and sent to Spain by courier. Another option was to hide in the luggage of new Chinese citizens who also sought to bring Spain . Once received, members of the organization acquired bills of low cost regentadas agencies by Chinese citizens and Pakistanis. The network, alerted to the police arrests carried out at various airports, sought other forms of access to these countries as trains, goods vehicles and ferries from Spain to France or directly to England

50 members of an organised crime group suspected of payment car fraud were arrested earlier this week in a joint operation led by the Romanian Police (Brigada de Combatere a Criminalitatii Organizate Craiova) and supported by Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre (EC3) and the Italian State Police (Servizio di Polizia Postale e delle Comunicazioni.) This coordinated action targeted criminal services misusing illegally obtained credit card credentials and advertising on the Internet the sale of fake plane tickets

As a result of Operation Travel, 50 individuals, including 4 leaders of the organised crime group, were detained in the southern part of Romania. 16 house searches were executed, and a significant amount of digital evidence, computers, mobile phones, SIM cards, memory cards and documents were seized for further analysis.

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Active since 2013, the apprehended criminal organisation illegally obtained payment card information and other personal data from victims worldwide, and subsequently used this data to acquire high-value goods and services, including most frequently plane tickets, but also sports bets, electronic devices, jewellery, agricultural machinery and real estate. The proceeds from the online fraud were also used to facilitate other crimes on the national and international level.

Internet-facilitated credit card fraud has resulted in substantial financial losses for the airline and payment sector, and has been proved to facilitate other forms of serious crime by providing means of transport and funds for organised crime groups.

Europol’s Deputy Director Operations Wil van Gemert said: “This coordinated action is yet another excellent example of how the combined forces of European law enforcement agencies, the IATA and the private sector are capable of severely disrupting criminal syndicates who rely on the outdated assumption that they are beyond the reach of law in cyberspace. Multi-stakeholder cooperation is essential to prove these cybercriminals wrong, and support the airline industry in combating online fraudulent schemes.”

Europol’s European Cyber Crime Centre (EC3) assisted this operation by providing analytical support, facilitating exchange of information and evidence between the involved countries as well as assisting the final on-the-spot operation in Romania

Europol has supported an international investigation led by France and Portugal, called ‘Operation Bouquet’, aimed to dismantle an international criminal network involved in facilitating irregular migration within the EU. The operation has led to the arrest of 69 individuals, nine of whom are key figures of the criminal network.

The smugglers were being investigated for providing transport for irregular migrants (of Hindustani origin) between Lisbon, Paris and the Belgian border, using their own vehicles and travelling along the main motorways to avoid detection. In Portugal, law enforcement authorities also investigated marriages of convenience between migrants and Portuguese women.

On the night of 26 September 2015, the French Brigade Mobile de Recherche (BMR) from Hendaye organised an operation on the toll barrier of Biarritz La Négresse. As a result, five vehicles belonging to the crime group and transporting irregular migrants were intercepted. Six smugglers were arrested, and 30 migrants (Hindustani nationals) apprehended.

In addition, the BMR searched two of the main suspects’ houses. Both individuals were found and arrested. Moreover, 30 irregular migrants were discovered inside one of the houses.

Holidaymakers and workers travelling in the country will be banned from driving if they flout traffic laws and could find themselves on a blacklist if they fail to pay fines.

Around 10,000 fake speed cameras and 500 real ones will also be introduced to scare motorists into slowing down, officials revealed yesterday.

The strict measures were announced by the French government in its latest bid to cut the number of road accidents. According to the UK Telegraph the, Prime Minister Manuel Valls said: ‘The French roads cannot be a cemetery.’

Accidents in France were 20 per cent higher in July than in the same month last year. A quarter of speeding offences in France are committed by foreign motorists, with the number increasing to 50 per cent in the summer months.

More than half a million British motorists are currently caught speeding in the country each year but police do not try to collect fines as the UK opted out of a 2011 EU directive.

Mr Valls’ comments came after a new directive was unanimously approved earlier this year.

The UK, Ireland and Denmark will have until 2017 to implement the rules, which include being able to target foreign motorists for offences including not using a seatbelt, drink driving, using a mobile phone and ignoring red lights.

Under the directive, each EU country will have a designated ‘national contact point’ in which prosecuting authorities will be able to access a database to trace foreign drivers.  A spokesman for the AA said: ‘From time to time the French have road safety blitzes but this one includes a particularly wide-ranging set of measures aimed at dealing with speeding.

‘The French have always been very strong in trying to catch foreign drivers speeding along their roads. ‘It has been well known that you could be pulled over by a policeman, taken down to the nearest cash machine and told to pay a deposit before you are allowed on your way.

‘In terms of parking enforcement and the payment of tolls, road authorities in many European countries have [also] found it very easy to chase up Brits at home.

‘The “virtual licence” scheme is just a technological upgrade. It all comes down to what the British government has agreed with the French in terms of cross-border enforcement.’

FINED, BANNED OR YOUR CAR CONFISCATED: HOW WILL THE NEW EU DIRECTIVE AFFECT YOU?

An EU directive outlining cross border enforcement for a series of traffic offences was approved earlier this year.

The UK, Ireland and Denmark will have until 2017 to implement the rules, which include being able to target foreign motorists for offences including not using a seatbelt, drink driving, using a mobile phone and ignoring red lights.

For first time, EU countries will have a designated ‘national contact point’ in which prosecuting authorities will be able to access a database to trace foreign drivers.

Suspected offenders will then receive a letter from the authorities in the country where the offence took place to warn of the legal consequences if fines isn’t paid.

British officials will be able to use the new law to pursue foreign motorists who commit offences in Britain, while foreign authorities will be able to do the same to UK offenders

The level of fines applicable is the same as for drivers of cars registered in the country where the offence is committed.

In France, British motorists could be banned from driving and have their cars confiscated if they accrue traffic offences.

Since the beginning of the year the Portuguese National Drug Authority (Infarmed) has detected 29 fraud with counterfeit drugs being sold over the internet and that may pose risk to the lives of users.

According to the agency, there are in Portugal 73 registered legal sites of prescription drugs, associated with 71 pharmacies and two drug sales points which are not subject to medical prescription.

Infarmed cannot quantify the damage caused by counterfeit drugs to the Portuguese State, but in action coordinated by Interpol in June 2015 (Operation Pangea VIII), more than 18 000 illegal drug units were detected being imported into Portugal.

In total the international operation, involving 115 countries, seized fake drugs worth approximately 72 million euros. For 2016 it is expected that medical packaging will have a QR code, an innovative barcode.

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It is recommended that any prescription drugs should be purchased from a registered pharmacy and care should be taken purchasing medicines on line, to ensure that the seller is reputable.

A boy aged 9 years old is in critical condition after being shot in the head by another boy aged 11 years, whilst playing “cops and robbers” with guns at Merelim, S. Palo, Braga on 9^th October.

A few hours after the accident, the owner of the weapons, the victim’s uncle, was arrested by the Judicial Police of Braga. The gun is not legal and was reportedly not properly stored or secured.

After being admitted to Braga Hospital, at 17.30, the boy was transferred, by 19h40, for the service of Neurosurgery Pediatric Hospital of St. John in Porto. It has the bullet lodged in his head.

The uncle of the child will be heard this morning in the Judicial Court of Braga in the first judicial interrogation. He is indicted for possession of prohibited weapon crime. The INEM doctors gave support to children and family.

After the assessment by the Neurosurgery Hospital of Braga, it was concluded that the most correct was not making any surgical intervention and prior to transfer to St. John’s Hospital, “said yesterday Soraia Oliveira, head of the Emergency team of the hospital of Braga. The clinic said, “The boy is in very critical condition with the projectile lodged in the child’s head.

The boy who fired the shot is reportedly in a state of shock over the incident.