The GNR Ovar have foiled an attack on a branch of Western Union in Esmoriz.
During the incident there was an exchanged of shots between the GNR and the four robbers, as they tried to escape in a car. They were however arrested.
Comment – Excellent work by the GNR
The GNR in Seia are investigating a series of thefts from 24 vehicles that have taken place over a period of 48 hours. In addition four vehicles were stolen.
This took place at the Urnanization de Martinhos earlier this week (12th/13th February) and items stolen included car radios, computers and GPS equipment. The thieves gained access by smashing car windows.
On 13th February at around 1020 hrs, three persons wearing latex masks broke their way into the “Boutique dos Relogios Plus” jewellery shop in Centro Comercial Amoreiras in Lisbon.
They then smashed glass windows and panels using sledge hammers before escaping with watches with an estimated value in excess of one million euros.
The three robbers walked through the centre without any regards to CCTV cameras and members of the public.
Watches stolen include individual items with a sales price of €190,000 each.
During their escape the robbers pointed pistols at people in restaurants in the shopping centre. They then left through an emergency exit before using three motorcycles parked in the basement of the shopping centre to escape.
The Judicial Police are investigating.
Comment
It appears to have been a well planned robbery. Clearly question marks concerning security at the centre that also need to be reviewed.
A US serviceman aged 28 years from the airbase of Lajes in the Azores has been charged with attempted murder, two rapes, an assault and another of kidnapping a woman aged 26 years, it was announced on 16th February by the Public Ministry.
According to information on the website of the Attorney General’s Office of the Azores, “the facts occurred on November 1, 2016, in the municipality of Praia da Vitória, on Terceira Island.”
In a statement issued on the arrest of the accused, the Criminal Investigation Department of Ponta Delgada of the Judiciary Police revealed that the suspect took advantage of the fact that he knew the victim. The suspect convinced her to accept a lift in his motor vehicle, against her will, to an isolated place where he allegedly assaulted and raped her. ”
“He then took her to another place near the coast, where he again allegedly raped and assaulted her with a knife and attempted to kill her by drowning, in order to prevent her from reporting the incidents”, Said the statement from the Judiciary.
She then tried to free herself and fled towards the sea, where she remained until she was able to obtain help from a passer-by who took her to a hospital.
The Attorney General of the Region of the Azores points out that in this case the Portuguese State did not renounce the criminal jurisdiction provided for in the 1995 Cooperation and Defence Agreement between Portugal and the United States of America.
Article VIII of Annex H to this Agreement states that, “recognizing the responsibility of the military authorities of the United States of America to maintain order and discipline of their forces, Portugal shall, at the request of the said authorities, renounce (…) Exercise of its criminal jurisdiction over members of the force, except in cases of particular importance to Portugal.”
The defendant remains under detention
According to the balance of the Lisbon region, Social Security, Tax and the National Health Service were the targets of 357 frauds worth €44.9 million
The state was the victim of fraud last year to a total of 45 million euros, just in the region of Lisbon, the largest region in the country. The losses were a result of 357 recorded crimes, an average of around one per day.
The targets were in most cases, the National Health Service (SNS), Social Security or the Treasury. The data appeared in the annual report of the Public Prosecution Service in the District of Lisbon, regarding investigations carried out in the last 12 months.
In total there were 357 scams to the State investigated, with the average value of almost 126 thousand euros, per case. However, in some of these cases, the value of the injury to the State surpassed this average.
At the final stage of the proceedings, 320 cases were tried resulting in 198convictions or 61.8%.
The report also reveals that 57 cases of corruption were tried, of whom 46 resulted in convictions.
Europol’s European Cyber Crime Centre (EC3) has successfully supported efforts to identify several victims of child sexual abuse through its third Victim Identification Task Force (VIDTF).
Experts from Portugal and other countries participated in the VIDTF 3 hosted at Europol headquarters from 28 January to 10 February, which saw them identify victims of child sexual abuse and exploitation using advanced techniques, software and their knowledge and expertise. As a result, victims of this damaging crime have been located living in several countries in the EU and beyond. Law enforcement authorities in those countries are currently working to finalise the identification of the children and save them from further atrocities.
VIDTF 3 saw 25 experts in victim identification from 16 countries and 22 agencies coming together to work on shared materials at Europol’s headquarters over 12 days. They were supported by Europol staff, all specialists and analysts in this crime area. The unique combination of collaborative work, image and video analysis, and criminal intelligence meant that the experts worked through millions of files to find and exploit vital clues. The effort was funded by the European Commission’s EMPACT Cyber CSE programme.
The uploading of groups of linked images and video files to the International Child Sexual Exploitation Database (ICSE) hosted at Interpol is an integral part of the VIDTF model.
This allows investigators with access to ICSE to contribute to the effort while it is taking place and afterwards. In VIDTF 3 the different teams uploaded 265 new contributions to ICSE and made more than 350 additions to existing contributions, therefore increasing the chances of the victims depicted being identified and safeguarded.
Another significant part of the work is using existing techniques and developing new techniques to gather information from images and video files. Experts worked extensively on this and shared the new knowledge with their colleagues.
Victim identification experts participated from Interpol and law enforcement agencies in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Cyprus, Estonia, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Switzerland, UK and USA.
The 46-year-old woman is charged with concealment of a corpse in the back yard of her house, as she has not informed the authorities of her husband’s death, which occurred in early October. Yesterday, Louise Khan, (Scottish) appeared at the first judicial interrogation. A local court judge sent her away but with mandatory weekly appearances at the GNR.
According to reports, because she did not have the money for the funeral, Louise buried her husband in the very farm they had bought in Linhares da Beira, Municipality of Celorico of Beirag about six years ago. “What she did was a mistake, but she probably even buried her husband on the farm at his own request, since they were a couple with an alternative lifestyle, much like the hippies,” a neighbour told the Correio da Manha .
The woman had been detained at the GNR station in Celorico since Thursday, the day PJ found and removed her husband’s body. A summary judgment was scheduled for 11th February, but the defence lawyer asked for more time to prepare the case.
The results of the autopsy did not reveal signs of crime or violent death and, therefore, investigators believe that the 59-year-old man died of natural causes and following at the end stages of cancer.
The Territorial Command of Setúbal, through the Criminal Investigation Nucleus of Santiago do Cacém, in collaboration with the Territorial Posts of Sines and Vila Nova de Santo André, arrestedon 11th February, two men of Cape Verdean nationality, with 29 and 30 years of age caught in the act of drug trafficking in Casoto, Sines.
During the action the police seized a significant quantity of narcotic products in the possession of the two individuals, making a total of 2149 doses of heroin, 117 doses of cocaine, 435 euros and five mobile phones.
The detainees were detained at GNR, in Santiago do Cacém, before appearing for first judicial interrogation.
The DNA database for the purposes of criminal investigation and civil identification entered 8,339 profiles in seven years of existence, a number far less than initial estimates reports Publico.
The database of DNA profiles, which allows authorities to cross quickly with samples taken at crime sites, is now seven years old and according to the website of the DNA Profile Database Surveillance Council, received between 12 th February 2010 and 31 December 2016, 8,139 samples, of which 5,820 are condemned (71%).
Last year, 1,538 DNA profiles were entered, 126 more than in 2015, when 1,412 were inserted. The years 2013 and 2014 were those in which more profiles were collected: 2425 and 1733, respectively.
In the first year of existence, 56 samples were inserted, increasing to 277 in 2011 and to 698 in 2012.
According to the data provided by the National Institute of Forensic Medicine and Forensic Sciences, entity responsible for the database, there are also 2,136 problem samples (collected at crime scenes), 15 of relatives of missing persons, 125 of professionals and four of volunteers.
In seven years, 134 requests from 27 countries were made for cross-checking of 270 profiles, according to available data from the Supervisory Board, an independent administrative entity that controls the DNA profile database and reports to the Assembly of the Republic.
The database allows cross-checks of samples collected at the crime scene, and victims, with the profiles already identified and recorded, and collect DNA samples from people or corpses and compare them with those of relatives or with existing ones In the database, with a view to their identification.
In a conference held last year, the director of the Laboratory of Scientific Police of the Judiciary Police, Carlos Farinha, considered that the number of DNA profiles available in the database is still “very reduced” and identified as one of the problems the ignorance of the legislators on the subject.
As an example, he said that France has 400 times more profiles than Portugal, Germany 200 times more, Switzerland 30 times more and the Czech Republic 20 times more.
At the time, Carlos Farinha also said that, unlike other countries in Europe, Portugal does not have DNA profiles of defendants.
The Secretary of State for the Environment, Carlos Martins, was the victim of a theft during a stopover for dinner in Coimbra.
His official car was broken into and a briefcase containing his personal computer and other material was stolen.
“They took all the work of a lifetime,” lamented yesterday, Carlos Martins to Expresso newspaper, revealing that “had my PhD thesis, over 40 thousand photographs and presentations in powerpoint these hard drives. He did not have relevant documents related to Government. ”
The incident occurred last Wednesday and, according to the weekly, six more vehicles were assaulted.
The official was on a trip to Ribeira de Pena, in Vila Real, to attend the presentation of the Tâmega Electro-Production System.
Comment
Clearly not listening to crime prevention advice. One hopes the stolen material was backed-up.