Month: April 2016

The Lisbon Metropolitan Command PSP announced Wednesday that they have dismantled a drug trafficking network in the country’s central region, after having arrested 10 people in the municipalities of Lourinhã and Caldas da Rainha. During the operation, over 14,000 individual doses of cocaine, 6,700 euros in cash, 24 mobile phones, two cars, two computers, a precision scale and a firearm were seized.
The arrests were the result a police investigation that started several months ago, culminating in the dismantling of a narcotic drug trafficking network that provided the central zone of the Portuguese, “said the PSP in a statement.

During the investigation, the police were able to determine that two of the 10 detainees were responsible for drug transportation, by ingesting it in their bodies thus ensuring that reached the destination.

The 10 detainees, seven men and three women, are aged between 19 and 58 years. Five of them are awaiting trial in custody, three are required to make periodic reports to the police and two are awaiting trial under house arrest.

After the highest bidder on eBay offered Jordan Allison £600 for his mobile phone he dutifully packaged it up and sent it off by registered post. However, although Royal Mail’s website showed it had been signed for, the buyer claimed it hadn’t arrived. When Allison sent proof of delivery the buyer said he had received the parcel after all, but instead of a phone it contained an unlikely cargo: beetroot.

“I had proof – the weight of package and photos – that I hadn’t sent beetroot,” says Allison, who is from Irvine in Ayrshire. “But the buyer opened a case against me on eBay. I called eBay and asked if I needed to do anything. It said I would be contacted. A month later I received an email, not from eBay but from PayPal, to say £600 had been removed from my account.”

What had happened is an experience grimly familiar to many eBay sellers. The company had found in the buyer’s favour without asking for any evidence, according to Allison. Not only did the buyer receive a full refund, but the seller has been left with no phone. After The Observer intervened, eBay agreed to refund Allison, although it insists there was no evidence of fraud.

Critics claim the auction website’s measures to protect buyers from dodgy transactions have left sellers at the mercy of fraudsters who can manipulate the system to effectively steal goods.

Ebay claims its 1,500-strong resolution team has tools to monitor and flag up suspect behaviour. However, in Barr’s case it was only when the Observer intervened that eBay revisited the case and discovered the buyer had a history of manipulating the system. It has now refunded Barr.

It says the complaint was originally handled “in line with eBay Money Back Guarantee guidelines” which advise buyers to provide a tracking number to show that a disputed item has been returned. It’s a system open to fraud since the tracking number doesn’t show what was in the parcel and eBay doesn’t ask.

The Judicial Police, through the National Anti-Corruption Unit – UNCC, in collaboration with several other units, including the National Unit for Combating Drug Trafficking – UNCTE in connection with an investigation by the Central Department of Investigation and Penal Action – DCIAP, have undertaken a major operation, resulting in the arrest of 15 persons.

Those arrested are aged from 39 to 61 years of age and are being held in connection with crimes of bribery and accepting bribes for tort, money laundering and trafficking in drugs.

The operation which was reported on 5^th April, mobilized nearly 250 members of the Judicial Police, as well as judges and prosecutors, and involved ​​about a 120 searches, throughout the country

The detainees will be present the first judicial questioning for the application of appropriate enforcement measures. The investigation is continuing

The Judicial Police, through the Board of Lisbon and Tagus Valley, have arrested of a man aged 45 years for committing a robbery and kidnapping.

The investigation found that during the night in early October last year, the victim, a man aged 24 years, was approached by the suspect when he parked his car in the Lisbon area and forced by threat with a firearm, to move to the back seat of the car.  He was then taken to several ATMs and forced to withdraw money over a period of two hours. The suspect stole the car and other property of the victim.

At the end of the same month, the suspect approached another victim, a managed 60 years old who had just closed his establishment and was preparing to get into the car. Under the threat of a firearm the suspect stole money he had in his possession and the keys of his car.

The detainee will appear for first judicial interrogation, which will be subject to appropriate enforcement measures. The judicial Police is continuing their investigation to ascertain the possibility that the suspect is involved in other criminal cases like.

The Judicial Police, through the Department of Criminal Investigation of Setubal, have completed an investigation involving transnational transactions, which started in August 2015 concerning computer fraud crimes and counterfeit securities.

Following  “Operation Lightning ” and in collaboration with SIBS / PAYWATCH, the operation resulted in the arrest of three men, aged between 37 and 41 years old, who are now in custody.

The “modus operandi” of detainees consisted of placing in a cash machine (ATM) in Sesimbra, a device that allowed them to copy security features of 116 bank cards, whose counterfeited copies were then used in a total of 320 transactions value amounting to € 43,570.00.

They successfully conducted 153 such transactions and appropriating illicitly € 20,440.00 in Évora, Montemor-o-Novo, Vendas Novas, Sines, Santiago Cacém, Ferreira do Alentejo and Beja. At the time of their arrest, the defendants were preparing to do the same in another ATM in Montijo.

The investigation has resulted in the dismantling of a transnational network undertaking this crime. The investigation was based on dozens of inquiries, and examination of more than a hundred people, the seizure of various computer equipment and tools, vehicles, hundreds of cards, mobiles, supporting transfers made ​​through “Western Union” and the evidence of similar practices abroad.

On 1^st April the GNR SEPNA of the Territorial Command of Setúbal, supported by GNR Grândola, seized 55 dogs as part of an investigation into the neglect and abuse of animals by DIAP Setúbal.

Two owners of the dogs were made defendants. After screening performed by the vet of the municipality of Grândola, five of the animals were found to need  immediate attention as they had signs of having been subjected to ill treatment. The dogs seized were the Alano races, Beagles, Griffons, PitBull Terriers, Podengos, Sleuth Spanish and Fila de São Miguel.