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Very good news is that Angela Morado, Proconsul at the British Vice Consulate in Portimão, has been presented with an Honorary MBE, awarded to her by Her Majesty the Queen, in recognition of “her significant contribution to relations between the United Kingdom and Portugal”.

The award was formally presented by the British Ambassador to Portugal, Kirsty Hayes, at a reception on 29^th September in Portimão.

The Ambassador said in tribute: “Angie has proved herself to be a consummate professional in dealing tenaciously with hundreds of consular cases, and providing exemplary support to many distressed and vulnerable British nationals.

“Angie always sees each and every person as an individual, an essential skill in consular work, where each person has a set of unique, personal circumstances, even if the type of situation is one she has dealt with many times before.

“She has a seemingly limitless supply of empathy and compassion for fellow human beings, often facing up to the worst situation in their lives in a foreign country, sometimes alone, where they don’t speak the language or understand the norms”.

At Safe Communities Portugal it has been my great pleasure to work with Angie over a period of nearly 5 years. During this time she has provided constant support to our work, in dealing with individual cases, presenting at seminars and undertaking several joint projects.

She is one of the most passionate and dedicated persons it has been my pleasure to meet, and this award is really well deserved. It was my honour to be there at the presentation.

The Ambassador outlined in her speech Angie’s tremendous contribution and her overseas deployment sometimes at short notice dealing with crisis and assist British nationals in the countries concerned.

In October 1988, she started working for the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office at the British Consulate in the Algarve, having been advised about the job vacancy by her previous employer, Zita Neto, Director of the language school Interlingua in Portimão. The British Consulate was just up the road from the school.

“I was interviewed by the then Honorary British Consul, Dr José Pearce de Azevedo, to whom I am ever grateful for teaching me the Portuguese I am able to read, write and speak today,” she says.

Having started as a consular support officer, she was promoted to consular assistant in 1994. With the retirement of her former colleagues Ron Underwood and Zefita Azevedo, she was promoted to Proconsul and then appointed Vice Consul in 2004.

She has served under seven consuls. Commenting on her MBE award, Roger Nuttall, the British Consul in the Algarve between 2000 and 2005, who now lives in retirement in England, said: “Among former colleagues in my 40 plus years in the Diplomatic Service, Angela Morado was simply the best consular officer I ever worked with. She was conscientious, professional, and wonderful with the public, British and Portuguese alike. I wish we could clone Angela for every consular job in the Service”.

Angela’s own reaction to the MBE award: “I am truly honoured for the recognition and proud to work for this organisation that has provided me with so many opportunities in my career to learn and develop and to travel.

“Above all it is the great job satisfaction I have every day in being able to help vulnerable people. Within the consulate we have a saying that “there is never a dull day” and this makes my job exciting.

“I have always worked with fantastic teams who have been supportive especially when dealing with the more complex cases.

“It is a luxury these days to be able to say that I get paid for the job that I love doing

The Spanish Civil Traffic Guard has detected a group of cars that crossed Portugal and Spain as part of illegal road racing. Three drivers were arrested, eight reported and several cars seized.

The race was intercepted in the municipality of Saragossa, on the AP-2 road, when the vehicles were travelling between Catalonia and Madrid, one of several stages of the route, called by the organizers “The Challenge 2017 – The Private Rally” ( The 2017 Challenge – The Private Rally).

The facts occurred on September 5 but only now came to the public, through the Spanish Civil Guard Traffic (Civil Guard Traffic).

The warning about the presence of several vehicles moving at abnormally high speeds was given by several motorists to the authorities, who quickly set up an operation to find the transgressors.

According to the Spanish newspaper “ABC”, the Guard placed a mobile radar on the road linking Zaragoza to Madrid, detecting eleven vehicles that were participating in the race. Of these, three were running at more than 210 kms per hour, almost double the maximum speed allowed by law.

On that day and the next day, police were able to intercept and detain the three drivers. The vehicles were seized.

The suspects were in possession of credentials issued by the organization of the race and detailed documentation on the various stages of the race, which runs through Spain and Portugal.

During the days that followed, police were able to identify eight more vehicles suspected of taking part in the same illegal race, which, despite being detected at a higher speed than allowed, did not reach the numbers that led to the arrests.

According to the authorities, it is a race divided into stages, some of which would be carried out on Portuguese roads.

According to the Spanish newspaper, some of the vehicles had stickers to cover the license plates and, thus, prevent them from being detected by the radars. Source Diarios de Noticais

The Castelo Branco court today sentenced a former firefighter to 12 years and six months’ imprisonment, for causing nine forest fire crimes, one of which was in its most serious form.

The former firefighter was accused of starting 17 forest fires, between July and September 2016, in the municipality of Proença-a-Nova, district of Castelo Branco.

The group of judges considered the fire that erupted on September 7, 2016, in Proença-a-Nova, the most serious, since it involved “a very large area, 950 hectares, causing considerable damage, and the facts were proven that it caused considerable risk to persons and property.”

In relation to the two fires of the afternoon of August 28, 2016, the defendant was acquitted of the fires in question.

As for the rest, they were considered fire crimes in the least serious manner. The defendant was sentenced to one year and six months for one crime, two years for five other crimes and two years and six months for two further crimes.

For the most serious fire a seven-year prison sentence was imposed, and in legal terms this amounted to a single sentence of 12 years and six months.

Before the judgment was read, a psychiatrist was heard by teleconference, and from the expert’s report the defendant was suffering from a major depressive disorder.

“Depression never changes personality traits. It’s the personality that can shape depressive symptoms,” he said.

The defence, which confirmed that it will appeal the decision, stating that the court was trying to find “a scapegoat.”

4400 shipments of parcels weighing approximately 3.1 tonnes in total between 2016 and 2017.

Estimated gang could have earned EUR 2 million in illegal profits during this period.

Illicit substances imported by gang from Portugal.

Europol has supported the Spanish Guardia Civil in an operation targeting an organised crime group involved in the large-scale trafficking of illicit doping substances. As a result, the criminal group was totally dismantled, and large amounts of illegal medicines and various substances were seized, most of them related to sports doping.

During the investigation, which took place in four different phases, 41 individuals were arrested in various Spanish regions, and 45 searches carried out at homes, stores and gyms across Spain. Among the arrestees were some elite athletes and international bodybuilding and fitness champions. In addition, investigators seized more than EUR 200 000 in cash, five (5) luxury vehicles, small quantities of narcotic substances (speed, hashish, marijuana and cocaine) and various weapons.

Europol assisted the investigations on the spot by deploying eight specialists to various cities in Spain during different phases of the investigation. This allowed for real-time exchange of information and cross-checks against Europol’s databases, as well as extractions of data from phones and data storage devices.

The investigation began in early 2017, after a sports centre in the Balearic Islands (Spain) was detected dispensing these substances without any medical or therapeutic checks. Investigators identified the person responsible for this illegal activity, who imported the illicit substances from Portugal. In addition, investigators identified several cells of the organisation across various Spanish provinces also involved in the illegal commercialisation of these products. Source Europol

Read full story here

The multibanco box at Expoeste – Pavilion of Fairs and Exhibitions of the Caldas da Rainha, in the district of Leiria, was damaged this dawn on 9^th September with the use of explosion, according to the management of the centre.

The crime occurred at 05:30 and, in addition to the explosion of the ATM, the suspects “broke the side windows and entered the building to remove the boxes with the money,” according to the spokesman.

The explosion was heard by a resident of a nearby building who witnessed the robbery and warned the PSP.

“At least two people, all dressed in black, broke the windows, entered the building and left with the boxes inside a black car that fled at a great speed,” the resident told Lusa.

The assailants caused damage to the building estimated by António Marques in “about three thousand euros.”

The crime is being investigated by the Judicial Police of Coimbra that this morning gathered evidence in the place.

A day without fatalities on Europe’s Roads.

That’s the aim of Project EDWARD each year. Launched in 2016 by TIPSOL, the European Police Traffic Network,  the project is supported by drivers across the continent, plus very generous public and private sector partners.

2017’s day of action is Thursday 21 September.

The long-term aim is to spearhead significant and sustained reduction in death and serious injury on roads across the world.

You can do your part by contributing to Project Edward by visiting Project Edward website and taking your”Road Safety Pledge”, and help reduce accidents, deaths and injuries on our roads.

The Territorial Command of the Guarda GNR announced on Tuesday the arrest in Seia of 10 suspects, eight men and two women, aged between 16 and 46 years, for alleged drug trafficking.

The GNR explains in a statement that the suspects were detained between Friday and Sunday, by members of the Territorial Detachment of Gouveia, in the context of carrying out three operations to combat crime.

During the actions, the military approached several vehicles and seized 332 doses of hashish, 147 grams of liamba, 26 doses of MDMA, 14 seals of LSD, five doses of cocaine and a butterfly knife, according to the source.

Thieves have stolen the only chair on Mindelo beach, in Vila do Conde, adapted to carry disabled people to bathe in the sea. The beach is one of the few with handicap accessibility available in Portugal.

The wheelchair, whose wheels function as floating buoys in the water, was stored in a shed on the beach, but the thieves cut the padlock that served as a lock. In winter, the services of the Vila do Conde chamber kept the cart / chair. A complaint has already been filed at the local GNR.

The GNR dismantled a cannabis greenhouse in Murtosa and arrested a couple on suspicion of drug trafficking, the security force said on Friday.

According to a statement from the GNR, the men and women, aged 37 and 21, respectively, were detained last Thursday.

The action involved a search of the suspects’ home that during which they found and seized 1,108 doses of hashish, 29 cannabis plants of 2.5 meters and 867 cannabis seeds.

Two precision scales, a greenhouse, a shotgun, 32 caliber cartridges, two cars, several monitors and televisions, and 4,360 euros in cash were also seized

After the first judicial interrogation, the detainees, aged 59 and 64, were remanded in custody

The Judiciary Police have detained two men who manufactured counterfeit bank notes of 20 euros, in the Greater Lisbon area.

In a statement, PJ said that the counterfeit mill had been dismantled and the equipment used in the counterfeiting process had been seized, namely a hot stamping machine, a mould used in the stamping machine, a paper cutter, and a printer.

“The € 20 banknotes, some of which were seized in the manufacturing process, were suitable for misleading anyone, and more than two hundred were already in circulation,” the note said.

After the first judicial interrogation, the detainees, aged 59 and 64, were remanded in custody