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The case originates when a woman who parked on a yellow line in Fuseta in the Eastern Algarve reserved for loading and unloading, was issued a €30 fine which she paid.

When she returned to the spot a little later the woman saw an empty GNR car parked in the same place on the marked yellow zone. She then spotted the same two agents that had booked her having a light breakfast in a nearby cafe.

The woman took some photos in order to ‘show the corruption in this country’ saying the GNR should be setting an example to others, not flouting the laws for which she had just been fined. She added that they are all corrupt.

The GNR have stated that their agents were in the café trying to identify the driver of a goods vehicle which was parked in a disabled space.

Since this appeared on Facebook, local media have reported this as the person is being prosecuted for complaining against the GNR on Facebook and this has understandable caused much concern.

“Safe Communities Algarve have raised this case with the GNR at a senior level, who have explained that the only reason why the woman is being prosecuted, is for” defamation” by making a false accusation of corruption, which is a serious crime. Under Portuguese law making such false accusations against a person or an organization is illegal. Clearly her language is the issue here.

They added that the fact that she is complaining on Facebook is NOT the reason she is being prosecuted nor does it matter that she took photos of the GNR car. If she had complained but had not made the corruption allegation, I have been assured no action would have been taken.

The GNR receive negative comments and complaints from people on their Facebook page and these are not removed. But there are limits beyond which if you make unproven serious accusations in public then the person concerned will have to bear the consequences.

Unfortunately it is often the case in Facebook that people write without thinking through the consequences, or in the heat of the moment, which may well have been the case here”.

The Judicial Police, have detained a man and two women strongly suspected of drug trafficking over several years, particularly between the Spanish town of Ciudad Rodrigo and Vilar Formoso across the border area.

The Police seized various items relevant to the  criminal activity, as well as some traces of drugs. The investigation has revealed that the group were responsible for importing drugs with weekly sales of more than 500 individual doses of narcotics of various kinds.

The detainees all aged 27 years will now be present to the appropriate judicial authorities, for the first interrogation and application of enforcement measures pending trial. In developing some of the respective operations the Judicial Police collaborated with the GNR Canine Unit.

The design of the site undertaken by Claire Kellock, started in November 2014, as it became apparent that the demand for SCA’s services had extended beyond the Algarve. In fact enquiries are regularly received from overseas from people who have visited Portugal as those planning to move or invest here. Following discussions with the national police authorities in Lisbon, it was therefore decided to embark on a new site with some of the input being provided by them.

The new SCP site follows the same basic design of the SCA site but incorporates some new important features.

Given the large increase in the number of cybercrime enquiries it was decided to launch a cybercrime section divided into a number of pages, including a Cyber security alert page. This page is updated daily where necessary and shows samples of threats and attacks that people have received in Portugal and have brought to our attention as well as global attacks that may affect the country. We are grateful to Jim Litchko, a computer security analyst for his expert help in creating this facility.

Another new feature is a “For tourist” page. Although Portugal is one of the safest places to visit in Europe, it is important it remains so. Crime prevention tips are in seven languages at present and it is hoped to include Russian shortly.

We have also added a section on safety advice for children named “Keeping Kids Safe”, as well as the most comprehensive emergency contacts and hot-line contacts list available. The latter includes “click-through” contacts to the main support organizations in Portugal dealing with health, safety, and social services.

Following discussions, with the Economic and Food Safety Authority (ASAE) they are also featured in the police section on the website together with the GNR, PSP, SEF and the Judicial Police. We are grateful for the assistance and input received from these organizations.

The civil protection area on the website has been expanded from that available on the SCA site with a particular focus on forest fire prevention, given the risk this poses in many parts of the country.

With over 70 crime prevention downloads, it is hoped that the new site will help further enhance awareness of crime prevention, public safety and cyber security within all communities, supplementing the work of the various law enforcement agencies.

The report rates each country individually covers four sub-indexes, 14 pillars, and 90 individual indicators, distributed among the different pillars these range from the environment, trade, price competitiveness, employment, social conditions etc.

Closely aligned to this is the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) – Economic Impact of Travel and Tourism summary report for 2015, which concludes that in the last two years the world has been facing geopolitical tensions from the Middle East and Ukraine to South-East Asia, growing terrorism threats and fear of the spread of global pandemics. Should they persist, these global challenges could have significant further repercussions on the Travel and tourism industry, as they touch on the pre-condition for the sector to grow and develop-the ability of people to travel safely.

To date, the effect of such events on travel & tourism has been mixed. While some countries have witnessed significant decreases in the number of international visitors, other destinations have remained unaffected.

Interestingly, it is notable that the travel and tourism sector has actually continued to grow over these past years and according to the Portugal study report by the WTTC all economic factors within the industry are forecast to grow this year. The WTTC report is good news for Portugal.

Noteworthy in the WEF report is that of the 19 factors for each country, Portugal’s highest rating is for Safety and Security, compared for instance with “International Openness” where it is placed 72nd and Health and Hygiene at 35th place.

Apart from the crime impacting on business costs, the report rates the “reliability of the Police Service, placing Portugal in 29th place; the most reliable police service being Finland followed by New Zealand. The UK is rated 26th place, Spain 20th and France 30th.

As expected in terms of terrorism, Portugal rates highly at 7th place in terms of the impact on business costs, and in terms of the number of homicides is at 30th place.

Six house search warrants were executed and vehicles,silver jewellery, 720 euros in cash, 32 kilos of tobacco and 147 smartphones, were seized. The arrested persons, aged 21 and 41, were part of an organization that undertook robberies targeted at commercial / industrial establishments, farms, houses and jewellers and were carried out mainly at night time. It is reported that they had taken part in around 10 robberies over the last four months.

Most of the detainees have criminal records, for the crimes of conspiracy, theft and armed robbery, one of whom was deported from the country in 2011. This investigation, which lasted four months and ended with the arrests was conducted by the GNR Criminal Section of the Operations Research Group of the Special Intervention Unit (IU), which was coordinated by the Department of Investigation and Penal Action (DIAP) in Lisbon.

Fifty GNR soldiers participated in the operation including the Territorial Commands of Setúbal and Portalegre. Of the six arrested, five were held in custody.

On the night of 27^th/28^th May 2015, the Judicial Police, through the Department of Criminal Investigation of Ponta Delgada, in conjunction with the National Unit for Combating Drug Trafficking, as part of an operation that took place during the last days, detained five foreign men and seized a sail boat and approximately 1,150 kgs of cocaine transported reportedly from the Caribbean. The sail boat was sailing under a US flag.

This is the largest seizure of cocaine that has occurred in the Azores. The operation, with the assistance of Maritime police took place on the island of Faial, and was part of a broader framework to identify, combat and dismantle organized criminal networks that have been using this this method to traffic cocaine into Europe.

It has been reported that the drugs have a street value of Euro 300 million, making it one of the largest seizures worldwide this year.

It is understood from media reports that the French and British police were involved in the investigation leading to the operation.

The detainees, aged between 29 and 54 years old, (four Serbs and one German) have appeared before a competent judicial authority for the first judicial interrogation and have been placed in remand.

According to the president of the union of inspectors, SEF has not admitted inspectors for 12 years and that the service is “aged” and “on the verge of collapse. He also accused “other police forces” of wanting to absorb the service.

This was stated on Friday 29th May by the president of the Association of Research and Control Career (SCIF), the opening of the XVIII Congress of the union in Lisbon. According Acacio Pereira, the SEF currently has 714 inspectors with an average age of 42 years. “These are few professionals who, day and night, every day of the year, have to control all seaports, land and air borders in continental Portugal and islands, while developing research and prevention activities,” he added.

The President of SCIF complained of “disinvestment” in government service – a policy, illustrated recently with the suspension of participation of SEF in the missions of the European agency Frontex due to a “absolute and complete lack of human resources.” Acacio Pereira attributes the lack of investment, will mean “other police forces will have to absorb an excellent service; a step that he warns, is “wrong” of the efficacy point of view. “If the SEF, which is a modern force, efficient,
technologically capable and financially sustainable, generating 60% of revenues for their expenses, is absorbed by larger forces, all its qualities will be diluted with greater inefficiency.

A former Minister of Internal Affairs, Rui Pereira, who attended the Congress, admitted that when he reached the government he had the “intention to extinguish” SEF, but “I was completely against. It’s  bad idea and would create disorder in the internal security system”.

The XVIII Congress of the union SEF inspectors was held last Friday at the Institute of Social and Political Sciences.

In mid-May, Europol supported the Spanish Guardia Civil in carrying out Operation Snake. The operation targeted and dismantled a large transnational organised crime network which operated in Spain and was composed of Chinese citizens laundering the proceeds of various criminal activities.

Operating since at least 2009, this criminal network is thought to be the subsidiary of an even larger criminal network based in China. Over the last six years, the European branch of the group collected and laundered more than Euro 300 million primarily in southern European countries. Most of the laundered funds are believed to have already been transferred out of the EU.

The network imported various types of products into the EU, including counterfeit products, using fraudulent document and engaging in excise tax fraud. The criminal network facilitated its activities by establishing complex corporate structures and relying on front men and third parties in their transactions.

Imported products were sold in the EU without declaring excise taxes and generated significant profits of at least Euro 14 million. These undeclared profits were laundered using a large number of low-level associates, who deposited small sums of money in hundreds of personal bank accounts and transferred the money back to China.

Having established an infrastructure to successfully launder significant amounts of money, the Chinese network also offered money laundering and international remittance services to other organised crime groups in exchange for the payment of a negotiated percentage of the laundered funds. The Chinese network had contacts in various EU Member States including Belgium, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal and the United Kingdom. The group also operated several clothing factories in the vicinity of Madrid where Chinese labourers were exploited.

Operation Snake involved more than 200 Spanish law enforcement officers and was supported by Europol’s Financial Intelligence Group. The Operation was the result of a complex international criminal investigation lasting for more than two years.

Operation Snake so far resulted in the arrests of 32 members of the Chinese network, the search of 65 private residences and company premises in Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia as well as the seizure of 20 high-value vehicles and more than Euro 1 million in cash.

Europol was able to make valuable and tangible contribution to this successful operation by assisting the Spanish Guardia Civil with the deployment of a Europol team to Madrid. The team provided on-the-spot real-time intelligence analysis, which allowed for the identification of several transnational links.

It was reported on 28^th May that the Judicial Police, through the National Counter Terrorism Unit (UNCT) following an investigation by DIAP Lisbon, had arrested a 56 year old man, allegedly the perpetrator of armed robberies at various banks.

The detainee is suspected to be responsible for at least sixteen armed robberies (including two attempted robberies) committed over a period of several years in Lisbon metropolitan area and neighbouring localities. A gun and clothing used in the robberies were found in his possession.

The detainee will be brought before the first court hearing for the application of appropriate enforcement measures pending

On 25^th May 2015, the Judicial Police, through the National Unit for Combating Corruption in connection with an investigation led by DIAP Lisbon, seized, at Lisbon Airport, two suitcases containing about one million euros and 3.5 million yuan (Chinese currency) bundles of notes wrapped in cellophane.

The money was in the possession of a woman and a man, who were preparing to board a flight to Shanghai.

The suspects, aged 22 to 47 years of age with permanent visas in Portugal, were made defendants in connection with money laundering offences. The investigation is continuing.