The Judicial Police, through the Department of Criminal Investigation of Funchal, with the collaboration of the PSP and in compliance with arrest warrants issued by the Public Prosecutor’s Office, have identified and detained a 32-year-old man for allegedly committing an attack on air transport safety.

The accused, with a saw, climbed the fence that delimits the infrastructure of radar of the company Aerial Navigation of Portugal installed in the island of Porto Santo and cut several cables of the communication system of that company.

As a result, there was a complete failure of communications between the control towers of Madeira and the Lisbon Air Traffic Control Centre, with implications for communications with aircraft flying over the area of ​​the Autonomous Region of Madeira at the time. The cut in communications lasted approximately one hour and thirty minutes.

After the incident the individual fled to Lisbon and then to France, from where he only recently returned.

The events took place in September of last year.

The detainee was presented to the judicial authorities yesterday, and the preventive custody measure was applied.