Year: 2018

The Metropolitan Command of Lisbon of the PSP, through the Division of Criminal Investigation, on December 12, 2018, at 00h05, in the parish of Santa Maria Maior, in Lisbon, arrested one man, a foreigner, aged 32 years, suspected of committing the crime of Theft, Computer Crime, Illegal Immigration, Document Falsification and False Declarations.

A variety of crimes against tourists of Asian origin, most of them women, were carried out a man who chose victims mainly unaccompanied tourists, essentially in the Baixa of Lisbon.

He approached and spoke to them and subsequently through the induction of alcohol and other substances, and whilst they were under the influence the culprit was able to access the victim’s credit cards.

After several investigations, it was possible to arrest him whilst caught in the act after withdrawals with a credit card from one of the victims, with whom he attended nightlife establishments. After theft of the credit card, taking advantage of the fact that the victim was under the influence of alcohol, he made withdrawals of 4750 Euros of the account of the victim.

After a house search was conducted, the following items were seized: 10 doses of  Cocaine; 5465 Euros in cash: 13 victim credit cards; Photographic Machines; 1 jacket and a shoulder bag, clothing that usually used in the illicit.

The suspect, who resisted his detention, possessed a document of a foreign citizen. Through various steps, more specifically in coordination with the SEF, it is concluded that the document was counterfeit raising doubts as to his true identity.

The criminal activity of the suspect in Portugal extends over the last two months where he amassed about 30,000 Euros, in at least 8 identical situations.

Information was surfaced that he has already served a prison sentence in Spain where he carried out the same activity criminal. There are also reports of sexual abuse of victims, facts that only the investigation can confirm. In the course of the Domiciliary Search, it was possible to identify a 26-year-old woman who was involved in one of the eight situations mentioned, the latter being the defendant providing IRR under the aforementioned records.

He has appeared for the 1st Judicial Interrogation with an application to be remanded in custody.

 

Comment

Excellent work by the PSP Lisbon Metropolitan Command

A new report from the Portuguese Firemen’s League revealed that 84 percent of fire brigades failed to report to Socorro district commanders any operational information.

The LBP said on Tuesday 11^th December that 84 percent of fire brigades failed to report any operational information to District Relief Operations (CDOS) commanders, a protest LBP says will continue “indefinitely.”

“This process will continue indefinitely. It is only stopped if there is a calamity, a catastrophe or a serious accident and then it is restarted, “said LBP president Jaime Marta Soares at a press conference to take stock of the ongoing lawsuit.

Jaime Marta Soares said that CDOS are “collecting information through INEM and the security forces”.

LBP data indicate that 348 of the country’s 414 fire brigades have joined the protest, with the Algarve being the only district reporting information to CDOS.

The Portuguese Association of Volunteer Firefighters (APBV) on Wednesday 12th December demanded an apology from the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MAI) for its statements and requested several urgent hearings to discuss the situation of the sector.

The APBV met on Wednesday evening its national bodies in plenary at the headquarters of the Volunteer Firefighters of Campo de Ourique, in Lisbon, to analyse the entire situation of firefighters in the country.

“The firefighters are discouraged and do not see themselves in the declarations that the minister has made and also that Portugal could be at risk because of the measures announced by the [Portuguese Firefighters] League,” João Marques, vice president of the APBV told Lusa.

The APBV also argues that it should be heard in parliamentary committee on the proposal to reform the Organic Law of Civil Protection, which is the origin of the controversy, expressing discontent at not being chosen for this hearing.

According to João Marques, the association decided to send letters to the President of the Republic, the President of the Assembly of the Republic and all parliamentary groups with a request for an urgent hearing, and also requested hearings from the MAI and the Secretary of State for Civil Protection.

“We had already asked the MAI and the Secretary of State for hearings, but since we have not received a response, let us ask for it again. We also asked for an audience with the president of the Firemen’s League, who we had asked before, to try to join forces to resolve the current situation “he stressed.

Among the main claims the APBV are seeking are the reinstatement of the time of service for retirement purposes, the updating of the insurance system, the creation of a medical-sanitary surveillance program for the operatives and exemptions from university fees and technical-professional courses re

The Minister of Home Affairs assured the presidents and fire department commanders that “every avenue of dialogue is open” to “build the best solutions” and respond to expectations.

“Because this is a reform designed to value Portuguese firefighters and encourage volunteering, all the ways of dialogue are open in order to build the best solutions to respond to your legitimate expectations, for the sake of the quality of protection and relief and safety of Portuguese, “Eduardo Cabrita wrote in a letter sent to the presidents of voluntary humanitarian firefighters and their commanders, which Lusa had access to.

The minister said he hoped that “in dialogue, the process could be concluded.”

The letter was sent after the National Council of the Portuguese Firemen’s League (LBP) decided to suspend all operational information forwarding to district relief operations (CDOS) commanders.

 

 

The degree of terrorist threat remains “moderate” in Portugal, but the PSP wants to ensure that security awareness is also unchanged and undertakes to strengthen the presence on the streets of several cities.

The terrorist attack on the Christmas market in Strasbourg – whose author was shot dead by police tonight – has left European authorities on alert, including Portugal.

According to the office of the Secretary General of the Internal Security System (SSI), “Portugal did not change the degree of threat, while remaining moderate.” However, the deputy prosecutor, Helena Fazenda, pointed out to the Diario de Noticais, “security forces and services will keep vigilance and safety concerns in areas and places of greatest concentration of people.”

It is precisely with the aim of “preventing acts of terrorist character as well as other serious and violent crime” that PSP – the police that protect the cities of the country – will reinforce its presence in the streets, with greater visibility from this Friday, “Ever Present Police: Secure Holidays 2018-2019” under the motto “Long live your Christmas with our security”.

In this operation there will be a visible side – mainly with the uniformed police and patrol cars – but also a more discreet element. Agents of the so-called Covert Tactical Reaction Teams (ERTE) will be distributed at several points considered most sensitive, accompanied by elements of the Special Operations Group (GOE), with unmarked cars that patrol and react immediately in case of threat.

Officers posted to the most critical areas, such as airports, transportation terminals or areas with more people, are trained and armed with MP5 machine guns. They are operational from the Intervention Corps of the Special Police Unit.

As with the Eurovision festival and the Web Summit, the PSP will install at some perimeters of squares, for example where there are more people, the so-called “hedgehogs” – metal balls with steel spikes – to avoid attacks with vehicles for mass hit-and-run.

According to an official source of PSP, the police also in the areas “where it is predicted greater concentration of people”. In “historical, tourist and commercial areas and where, where possible, larger events” will be established, “security perimeters” will be established.

In this operation, “there will also be protective measures, such as physical barriers in the premises where festivities are scheduled and large clusters of people,” and PSP promises to increase “the number of control and inspection operations to be carried out, especially in the area road safety, throughout the PSP’s area of ​​responsibility.”

The Minister of Internal Affairs, Eduardo Cabrita, made a positive assessment of the fight against forest fires in 2018, during the delivery, at Batalha, of 47 vehicles to the GNR Nature and Environmental Protection Service.

Eduardo Cabrita said that 44 thousand hectares were burned, “compared to an average of 140 thousand hectares in the last ten years”. According to the Minister, this result was possible due to “the effort of all: voluntary and professional firefighters, Civil Protection, Armed Forces and Special Firefighters”.

The Minister also highlighted the decisive role in raising awareness of the forest clean up, monitoring and combat that the Republican National Guard has developed, adding the “public awareness of the community”, which should be a dynamo to “do even more and better in the coming years”.

“We will do everything possible so that the prevention and cleaning efforts will be further intensified in the coming months, so that 2019 will be a safe year for the Portuguese,” he said.

The 47 vehicles, which are intended for the Nature and Environmental Protection Service (SEPNA), are delivered under the public tender which provides for the allocation, until 2021, of more than 2000 vehicles for security forces and services. It is recalled that the SEPNA was reinforced this year with another 100 elements.

This is the largest centralized vehicle contracting procedure since the State Vehicle Park centralization scheme was implemented in 2008.

The measure, under the Infrastructure and Equipment Programming Law of the Security Forces and Services, involves a total investment of about 50 million euros.

The court in Aveiro has sentenced a former ATL employee who used minors who frequented the establishment to remove money and gold from their parents ‘and other relatives’ homes. To 6 years in prison.

During the reading of the judgment, the presiding judge said that the “essentiality of the facts” contained in the indictment had been proven.

The judge considered the conduct of the defendant “extremely objectionable,” adding that it revealed “coldness of character and insensitivity,” taking advantage of vulnerable children, adolescents and seniors.

The defendant, who already has a suspended sentence for qualified theft, has been sentenced to a six-year jail term for nine felony counts of theft.

Besides the prison sentence, the 38-year-old woman will have to pay five thousand euros to two of the injured.

The defendant never attended the trial, nor did she justify the absence, despite being duly notified.

According to the indictment of the Public Ministry (MP), the facts occurred between 2015 and 2016.

During this period, the defendant decided to approach some children who attended the ATL in Esmoriz, Ovar, where she worked, pretending to be interested in their issues and problems to gain their trust and friendship.

Subsequently, using the knowledge she gained in relation to each minor and the ingenuity of her own age, the defendant persuaded them to take from the residence of parents and other relatives, money and gold objects which they would later hand over to her.

The MP also says that the defendant used the easy access she had to the backpacks of the children while they were in the ATL, removing the keys from the entrance doors of each of their houses and made copies, which he kept with him and that used later to enter the residences and steal gold and money.

According to the investigation, the defendant was able to steal more than a hundred pieces of gold (strings, bracelets, rings, earrings and others) in the total amount of about 18,000 euros and a little more than seven thousand euros in cash

An 80-year-old woman was killed and her husband was injured during an alleged robbery that occurred overnight in a town in the municipality of Vila Nova de Foz Côa in the Guarda district.

According to GNR source, the alert for what happened in the village of Horta, Vila Nova de Foz Côa, was given around midnight.

The alleged robbery inside the couple’s residence resulted in the woman’s death, while her 80-year-old husband was injured and was transported to the Sousa Martins Hospital in Guarda for treatment, the source told Lusa news agency.

The GNR of Vila Nova de Foz Côa, which belongs to the Territorial Command of the Guard, initially took account of the occurrence, but the investigation passed to the Judiciary Police.

The PSP of Porto announced Wednesday (12^th December) the arrest of two young men in the centre of the city for allegedly passing counterfeit 50 euro bank notes.

In a statement, PSP reports that, after receiving information about a “couple” who “had attempted to pay an apparently false 50-euro bill” in a commercial establishment, police officers intercepted two young men, aged 19 and 21, at another store in Rua do Heroísmo, “where they paid an expense of about five euros with a 50 euro bill.”

The PSP is alerting people that this type of crime may increase during the festive season.

 

The Territorial Command of Madeira, during its daily operational activity, from November 27 to 29, carried out a set of actions directed to the prevention and combat of tax and customs infractions, as well as surveillance of the coast and the sea territory, throughout the Autonomous Region of Madeira.

On November 27, 17 actions relating to administrative misconduct were taken, during an inspection operation for the control and circulation of goods:

• 11 due to lack of presentation of the code sent by the Tax Authority (mandatory code on transport guides)
• Four for lack of transport guide;
• Two for failure to indicate the time of commencement of transport.

During an inspection action, aimed at combating the irregular introduction of products subject to excise duties, on November 28, the GNR seized 580 litres of alcoholic beverages, with a total and presumed value of EUR 3 500. The seizure was made because they did not comply with the rules of sealing, packaging, holding and marketing. It should be noted that this type of infringement, in addition to being liable to a maximum fine of 165 thousand euros, also promotes unfair competition between economic operators, and may also become a public health problem, since this type of beverage is not subject to any sanitary control.

On 29^th November 148 kilos of fish were seized at Cais de Câmara de Lobos. The action was carried out in the context of a complaint filed concerning the illegal fishing activity. A man was identified and a report for misconduct was made.

On 23rd November the Judicial Court of Braga on Monday sentenced a man who stole six euros from another person on the public road in January 2016 in that city, to a year and a half in prison.

The accused will also have to return the six euros to the victim and pay him compensation of 250 euros for non-patrimonial damages.

For the non-suspension of the sentence, the court took into account the criminal background of the accused, already serving a prison sentence.

At the trial, the defendant confessed to the crime, was repentant and apologised to the victim.

He said that at the time he was consuming narcotics and that he “was desperate” for lack of money to buy the drug.

According to the indictment, the defendant approached the victim, told him that he had a knife and demanded that he give him the money he had with him.

The victim gave him the wallet, with six euros, which the defendant withdrew and took with him, fleeing.