The Situation Report Azores Wednesday 19th July 2023
Human bones found on the coastline of São Miguel in the Azores
The Maritime Police of Ponta Delgada, island of São Miguel, found “human bones” on the coastline of the parish of Relva, but whose origin is still unknown.
In a statement, the National Maritime Authority said that the bones were discovered by a member of the public on Saturday afternoon, who alerted the local command of the Ponta Delgada Maritime Police.
However, despite the steps taken, it was only possible to find the bones this Sunday.
“In view of the sea conditions and the lack of visibility at the site, it was not possible to locate the human bones”, says the same statement, adding that the searches were resumed on Sunday morning, culminating in the discovery of the human bones, which are presumed to be belong to the same person, along the coastline.
According to the National Maritime Authority, the bones were transported by the Volunteer Firefighters of Ponta Delgada to the Institute of Legal Medicine.
The case will now be investigated by the Ponta Delgada Maritime Police Command.
Five arrested suspected of drug trafficking in São Jorge
Three people were held in preventive detention and two with a term of identity and residence because they were suspected of belonging to an alleged drug trafficking network that operated in São Jorge, in the Azores.
According to the Regional Command of the PSP of the Azores, the suspects, arrested “in flagrante delicto” on the 9th of July, are four men aged between 24 and 57 years and a woman aged 48 years.
The police believe that it was “possible to dismantle a drug trafficking network operating in the municipality of Velas”, after an investigation carried out “over several months”.
It was possible to seize “2,202 individual doses of hashish, 128 individual doses of cannabis, ready for consumption, a monetary amount of 3,636.06 euros, reproductions of firearms and other weapons”, in addition to “objects related to trafficking”, he adds. to PSP in a press release.
The network allegedly operated from two residences located in Vila das Velas, a place “where a significant number of consumers went solely for the purpose of purchasing a narcotic product”, adds the PSP.
The alleged organized group was led by two suspects, who acted in cooperation with two other elements responsible for storing the product and a third suspect who transported the drug by sea to the island of São Jorge.
During this operation, two arrest warrants outside of flagrante delicto, three house search and seizure warrants and two non-domestic search warrants in the municipality of Velas were served. A house search warrant was also served in the municipality of Praia da Vitória, on Terceira Island.
The detainees were present at the first judicial interrogation at the Velas Judicial Court.
The operation involved the police from the Velas Police Station, in close collaboration with the Calheta (São Jorge) Police Station, the Criminal Investigation Police Station from Angra do Heroísmo and Praia da Vitória (both on Terceira Island) and the Cinotechnical Operational Group of the Força Destacada, of the Special Police Unit.