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A foreign citizen, suspected of trafficking in children and referred to in Spain for illicit illegal labour, was detained by the Aliens and Borders Service (SEF) at Humberto Delgado Airport in Lisbon, accompanied by a minor aged about 12 years.

The suspect and the child had disembarked from a flight from Accra, Ghana. When he presented himself to the SEF inspectors at the airport border. He presented a German travel document issued for children, but which was found to be registered as stolen in the databases.

SEF staff checked and found that the man was also in possession of another Ghana passport belonging to another minor.

The man alleged that he had been asked to accompany the child and to deliver him to his mother in Germany and showed an authorization of the alleged mother and a copy of his passport.

SEF found however that the alleged mother of the child, is referenced in Germany in connection with a child trafficking crime.

The minor was flagged as a victim of human trafficking and handed over to custody of an institution, and continued to be monitored by the SEF.

The alleged trafficker of people has appeared on 9^th March to the judicial authorities and placed under the pre-trial detention.

GNR announced the arrest of 52 people and the seizure of 350 doses of hashish and cocaine in several operations that took place across the country between 8 pm on Friday and 8 am on Saturday (10^th/11^th March 2017).

The operations carried out by the military aimed at “preventing and combating violent crime, road surveillance, among others,” said the GNR in a statement.

During the operations, 52 people were arrested whilst caught in the act, most of them (28) for driving under the influence of alcohol.

Seven people were detained for illegal gambling, six for driving without legal authorization, five for drug trafficking, one for illegal immigration and another for possession of a prohibited weapon, according to the GNR data.

The GNR military also seized 207 doses of hashish, 143 doses of cocaine and a blank weapon.

In traffic surveillance operations, 723 infractions were detected, 228 of which were for speeding and 57 for driving with excess alcohol.

The remaining infringements were due to improper use of the mobile phone in driving (36), lack of mandatory periodic inspection of the vehicle (35), lack of or incorrect use of the seat belt or seat (19), tachograph related infraction, and lack of civil liability insurance (4).

In this 12-hour period, the GNR registered 83 accidents, with 34 injuries.

A 23-year-old man living in Cascais was beaten and stabbed on Saturday at a famous nightclub on the Marginal Avenue of Sá Carneiro, near Funchal’s marina, Madeira.

According to the online news channel Cascais24, the young man, who was accompanied by three other friends, all from Cascais, who travelled to Madeira on 7th March 2017, was struck with a deep blow to the shoulder and had to be transported by the Fire Department to the emergency centre of the Central Hospital of Funchal.

In this health unit was assisted and sutured with several points, having been discharged about five hours later.

Another young man, who accompanied him, also had to be assisted in the same hospital because he had a wound on one of his fingers.

The PSP of Funchal has, however, identified the alleged perpetrator, apparently “an individual who frequented the Madeiran night and known to local authorities” for alleged acts of violence.

Still according to Cascais24, the causes of the aggression are not known, although it is recorded that the group of young people from Cascais was outside the night entertainment establishment, when they were questioned by the alleged aggressor.

The PSP of Porto detained 17 people, between Friday night and Saturday morning, (10^th/11^th March 2017) as part of a crime-fighting and road-monitoring operation, in which it detected 161 drivers for speeding.

In a statement, PSP said that the operation took place between 10 pm on Friday and 9 am on Saturday in the city of Porto.

According to police, seven people were arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol, eight for alleged drug trafficking, one for possession of pyrotechnic articles and another for disobedience.

The eight arrests made for drug trafficking resulted from an operation carried out in downtown Porto, with hashish, ecstasy, amphetamines, cocaine and liamba in an amount sufficient for about 228, 126, 104, 31 and three individual doses, respectively.

In the area of ​​road surveillance, PSP checked 1512 vehicles by radar, 161 of which were speeding.

Police also inspected 250 drivers and their vehicles, with 242 drivers being tested for alcohol in their blood.

In this action PSP also seized two firecrackers and five documents of vehicles, as well as registered 198 infractions to the Code of the Road and other road legislation.

The PJ announced the arrest in Spain of a Portuguese couple “heavily indicted” of human trafficking and slavery, in an operation that also resulted in the release of more than 30 citizens of various nationalities.

In a statement, the Northern Board of the PJ said that the victims had mostly “a profile of economic and mental weakness”, as well as suffering from alcoholism or drug addiction.

“They were recruited in the north of the country, namely in the areas of Greater Porto, to provide services in the area of ​​agriculture in the region of Logroño, Spain, under false promises of remuneration and labor benefits,” he adds.

On 9th March 2017, a police operation was launched, simultaneously in Portugal and Spain, aimed at dismantling that illicit activity.

In coordination with the Spanish police authorities and in the context of compliance with a letter rogatory, two Portuguese nationals were detained as “the two main perpetrators”.

This operation in Spain also resulted in the release of more than 30 citizens of Portuguese, Algerian, Guinean, Nigerian, Egyptian, Romanian and Russian nationalities, some of whom are in an illegal situation in that country. Some of the victims were sent by the Spanish authorities to the emergency and social support services to return to their countries of origin.

In Portugal, home searches were carried out in Minho and Trás-os-Montes, aiming essentially at collectors / collaborators and relatives of the detained couple in Spain.

In these searches, two men and one woman were found, and various documents, including firearms and ammunition, were seized.

The two detainees will be presented to the National Court in Madrid, with a view to their extradition to Portugal

The PSP destroyed more than three thousand firearms and blank weapons confiscated in criminal proceedings, administrative proceedings or misconduct.

In a statement released on Friday, the PSP’s leadership says that 3129 weapons were destroyed on Tuesday in a specialized company after they were seized or given voluntarily to the state by their owners or advisers.

Guns, including pistols, revolvers, rifles, daggers, razors, swords, were destroyed because of their degradation as they were useless for operational, formative, cultural or museological activity of the security forces.

In 2016, the PSP carried out seven operations of destruction of arms, in a total of about 24,000 firearms and blank arms.

 

The PSP have stated that the 88 kgs of hashish sized on 9^th March in a garage of Ermesinde, Valongo, during the operation with the code name “Fruit of Morocco”, is worth around €2,235,000 market price.

The seizure of 88 kilograms of hashish in the town of Ermesinde is the result of the second phase of a police operation during which a search for a garage was carried out, said Commissioner Afonso Sousa of the Criminal Investigation Division (DIC) Porto, during a press conference. He added that the hashish would be enough for 447,000 doses.

Hashish was packed with a seal on which read “Fruit du Marroc” (Fruit of Morocco in French), but whose origin does not mean that it is from Morocco, as Afonso Sousa explained. He added hashish normally appears “with a label,” a denomination, “almost as a joke” that it is normal for the police to verify and cannot take that as a “consequence of being Moroccan origin.”

“The investigation focuses on what is the direct sale to the consumer. It is an investigation that began at the beginning of the year and that until now I have not been able to reach this level of information,” added the DIC commissioner of the PSP of Porto.

In addition to the seizure of 88 kilograms of hashish, PSP announced the arrest of two individuals who did not offer resistance during operations and who can now be heard by the authorities.

In a first phase of the operation, on March 3, also in Ermesinde, the DIC of the PSP of Porto had already seized seven kilograms of hashish and had arrested two men, 42 and 62 years old, who were remanded in custody.

At that stage, the PSP carried out four home and non-household searches in Ermesinde and Alfena, where it seized a motorcycle with a large displacement, a 32-caliber revolver, ammunition and utensils and tools used in the direct sale of drugs.

The PSP also announced on 10^th March that it has developed a separate police operation, which also culminated on Thursday with four home searches in the neighborhoods of Biquinha and Cruz de Pau, in the municipality of Matosinhos, where two other suspects were detained. 22 and 26 years of age, and seized “two kilograms of hashish”, in addition to 900 euros in cash.

 

The Assembly of the Republic unanimously approved today the final version of the bills that aims to aggravate the criminal framework for crimes of sports corruption.

The final text, which was based on three bills of law, the PSD, PS and CDS-PP, was approved unanimously on 8^th March 2017 in the first Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional, Direct, Guarantees.

The new wording provides for a one to eight year prison sentence for the crime of passive corruption (currently punishable by one to five years imprisonment) and five years for the crime of active corruption, punishable, up to now, with a prison sentence of up to three years or a fine.

Eight Chinese and one Portuguese were detained by the Porto Judicial Police for integrating a network of tax fraud that during the last few years may have allowed an illegal profit of around ten million euros, with the non-payment of direct and indirect taxes.

The Judiciary is also investigating a money laundering scheme involving several casinos, but mainly one in particular. Everything indicates that it was in that gambling house that the money – the profit of the clothing stores and the illegal casinos – was laundered.

Around 100 million euros were handled. The investigation, conducted in conjunction with the Tax Authority, allowed them to find several pieces of evidence.

In the course of the operation, which also had the cooperation of the Aliens and Borders Service and the Food and Economic Security Authority, five people were identified and arrested with false documentation, two for illegal entry and stay and one for possession of a prohibited weapon.

The eight Chinese arrested by the Judiciary Police are between the ages of 29 and 65 and are businessmen. The Portuguese is unemployed and acts as a liaison between the suspects and the casino. During the day, the group will be present to the judicial authorities for interrogation and enforcement of the coercion measures considered appropriate.

Highlights

• More than 5 000 international Organised Crime Groups (OCGs) with more than 180 nationalities are currently under investigation in the EU.
• The number of organised crime groups that are involved in more than one criminal activity (poly-criminal) has increased sharply over the last years (45% compared to 33% in 2013)
• For almost all types of organised crime, criminals are deploying and adapting technology with ever greater skill and to ever greater effect. This is now, perhaps, the greatest challenge facing law enforcement authorities around the world, including in the EU.
• Cryptoware (ransomware using encryption) has become the leading malware in terms of threat and impact. It encrypts victims user generated files, denying them access unless the victim pays a fee to have their files decrypted.
• Document fraud has emerged as a key criminal activity linked to the migration crisis.
• Document fraud, money laundering and the online trade in illicit goods and services are the engines of organised crime.

 

The SOCTA 2017, Europol’s flagship product, represents the outcome of the largest data collection on serious and organised crime ever undertaken in the EU. Europol has been able to use its singular intelligence capability as the European information hub for criminal intelligence to analyse and identify the key crime threats facing the EU. These include cybercrime, illicit drugs, migrant smuggling, organised property crime, and the trafficking in human beings.”

Five Specific Priority Crime Threats:

• Cybercrime: Cybercrime is a key challenge to digital economies and societies. Cyber-dependent crime is underpinned by a mature Crime-as-a-Service model, providing easy access to the tools and services required to carry out cyber-attacks.
• Drug production, trafficking and distribution: Drug markets remain the largest criminal markets in the EU. More than one third of the criminal groups active in the EU are involved in the production, trafficking or distribution of various types of drugs. The industrial-scale production of synthetic drugs within the EU continues to expand and cements the EU as a key source region for these substances distributed worldwide.
• Migrant smuggling: Migrant smuggling has emerged as a highly profitable and widespread criminal activity for organised crime in the EU. The migrant smuggling business is now a large, profitable and sophisticated criminal market, comparable to the European drug markets.
• Organised property crime: Organised property crime encompasses a range of different criminal activities carried out predominantly by mobile OCGs operating across the EU. A steady increase in the number of reported burglaries over recent years is a particular concern in many Member States.
• Trafficking in human beings (THB): OCGs involved in THB often exploit existing migratory routes to traffic victims within the EU. While the migration crisis has not yet had a widespread impact on THB for labour exploitation in the EU, some investigations show that traffickers are increasingly targeting irregular migrants and asylum seekers in the EU for exploitation.

 

Crime in the age of technology

In the SOCTA 2017, Europol highlights in particular the role of technology. Criminals have always been adept at exploiting technology. However, the rate of technological innovation and the ability of organised criminals to adapt these technologies have been increasing steadily over recent years. Developments such as the emergence of the online trade in illicit goods and services are set to result in significant shifts in criminal markets and confront law enforcement authorities with new challenges.

• Drone technology is expected to advance allowing drones to travel greater distances and carry heavier loads. Organised Crime Groups involved in drug trafficking will likely invest in drone technology for trafficking purposes in order to avoid checks at border crossing points, ports and airports.
• Organised Crime Groups make use of various online services to facilitate their burglaries. This includes checking on social media platforms whether individuals are away from targeted residences, scouting targeted neighbourhoods using free online navigation tools.

Data as a key commodity

Data has become a key commodity for criminals: increasing internet connectivity by citizens, businesses and the public sector, along with the exponentially growing number of connected devices and sensors as part of the Internet of Things will create new opportunities for criminals.

Serious organised crime and terrorism

In many ways the profit-driven nature of organised crime is qualitatively different to terrorism. A nexus between the two exists, however, and may be expanding. Although the pursuit of criminal activities in support of terrorist activities is not a new phenomenon, the involvement of terrorist suspects with extensive criminal backgrounds and access to the resources and tools of organised crime networks in terrorism is a notable trend.