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The Judicial Police, through the National Unit for Combating Drug Trafficking, identified and arrested nine men suspected of drug trafficking offences, following ongoing investigations into the fight against international cocaine trafficking by air.

During the operation about 90 kilograms of cocaine, which came to Lisbon International Airport in suitcases from countries in South America was and were taken from the airport premises with the help of four airport employees, who have been arrested. Following the arrests 16 house searches were carried out and eight private motor vehicles, two motorcycles, about € 55,000 in cash, two weapons and two guns of large calibre, a (big game) carbine gun and another firearm similar to those used by the Portuguese army, were seized.

 The detainees, aged between 32 and 51, were present at the first judicial interrogation to determine remand/reporting conditions.

On 10th December, the Minister of Internal Affairs, Professor Anabela Miranda Rodrigues conducted her first visit to GNR Headquarter units.

 The visit began at the School of the Guard -. Queluz, at 10:15 hours, where there was a ceremony, during which the Minister officiated the delivery to the GNR of 175 vehicles (126 cars and 49 motorcycles), which will enhance the patrolling capacity of the various territorial commands, the National Traffic Unit and Fiscal Action Unit. 

During the visit to the headquarters in Lisbon, there was a briefing conducted by the GNR and a static exhibition  held to demonstrate the different capabilities of the GNR.

Between now and  14th December the GNR will be conduction Operation  TIPSOL throughout the national territory, aiming to step up surveillance of driving under the influence of alcohol and psychotropic substances and the fight against crime. 

During the operation 4836 GNR officers from the National Traffic Unit of Intervention Unit and the territorial commands, will carry out enforcement action against excess alcohol and psychotropic substance abuse at locations where this is more prevalent or in places where there is evidence of crime. 

Figures for 2013 and 2014, from January 1 to November 30 of each year, show that the number of drivers detected with alcohol in the blood above the legal limit has decreased from 2013 to 2014. Thus 1,045,510 tests were conducted in 2013  resulting in 28,969 exceeding the limit and 11,344 above the crime limit (equal to / greater than 1.20 g / l). In 2014 1,058,364 test were conducted, resulting in 24,332 over the limit and 9,316 above the crime rate level.

 This operation, the second to be conducted, is part of the strategy to combat road accidents, defined by the National Road Safety Strategy and the “Road Safety Programme 2011-2020” of the European Union, aimed at contributing to greater safety of all road users.

Two men who were responsible for a number of robberies have been sentenced to seven and a half and six years in prison respectively at the conclusion of their trial in a court in Portimao.

In February 2014 the two persons broke into a residence in Albufeira and threatened the occupants with a knife and assaulted them before escaping. In June they were responsible for stealing handbags from two British women which also took place in Albufeira.

 

The Judicial Police are investigating a robbery that took place at an Euromillions kiosk in Quarteira. During the incident a female staff member was threatened by two men, one of whom was carrying a shotgun. The incident took place on 2nd December at 1900 hrs just before the announcement of the jackpot results.

During the robbery the father of the staff member knocked over the robbers motorcycle, but the they managed to escape with the lottery takings.n

On 5th December at 0140 hrs two men were discovered by a PSP patrol stealing diesel fuel from a bus belonging to the EVA  bus company at Lago do Possio de S.Joao Baptista in Lagos.

When the PSP approached one of the men escaped and the other aged 21 years was caught with a drum containing 15 litres of diesel and a hose pipe.

On 3rd December the PSP arrested of two persons for drug trafficking in Olhao. In their possession were 208 doses of cocaine and 71 doses of heroin.

During a search of their homes a total of five knives, a motor car, eight mobile phones, a notebook, a games console, a tablet $218 in cash and a car radio were seized.

On 6th September a man was arrested in Olhao by the PSP after trying to steal a tile cutter from a shop in the town. On fleeing from the shop he was stopped by members of the public and held pending the arrival of the PSP.

Comment

Good work by the citizens involved.

 

It has been announced that Detective Chief Inspector Nicola Wall will take over from DCI Andy Redwood into the UK investigation into the disappearance of Madeline McCann, when the latter retires at the end of this month.

DCI Wall has 25 years service in the Metropolitan Police and has spent 8 years as a Detective Chief Inspector. Her current position is Head of murder investigation team in West London which is part of the Metropolitan Polices’s Homicide and Major Crime Command.

She is an experienced homicide investigator and in 2014 has conducted a number of high profile investigations into murders in her area which have included a murder of a grandfather in Notting Hill; a 55 year old woman in Colindale, a 48 year woman in Earls Court and a double murder in Leytonstone.

She is married and has a home in Putney west London.

DCI Redwood has stated “It was a great privilege to be Head of Operation Grange during the last  three and a half years and I guarantee I will be leaving the operation in the hands of a very experienced colleague”.

Berlin, 3 December 2014 – Corruption is a problem for all economies, requiring leading financial centres in the EU and US to act together with fast-growing economies to stop the corrupt from getting away with it, anti-corruption group Transparency International said today.

In the 20^th edition of the Corruption Perceptions Index, scores for China (with a score of 36 out of 100), Turkey (45) and Angola (19) were among the biggest fallers with a drop of 4 or 5 points, despite average economic growth of more than 4 per cent over the last four years.

The Corruption Perceptions Index ranks countries and territories based on how corrupt their public sector is perceived to be. A country or territory’s score indicates the perceived level of public sector corruption on a scale of 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean). A country or territory’s rank indicates its position relative to the other countries and territories in the index. This year’s index includes 175 countries and territories.

Portugal ranks 31st with a score of 63, which is a similar score to the last 3 years, but in terms of ranking has slipped from a ranking of 25th in 2001. The latest corruption scandals involving the former prime minister and those involved in the Golden Visas case are probable too recent to have been taken into account in this year’s survey.

“The 2014 Corruption Perceptions Index shows that economic growth is undermined and efforts to stop corruption fade when leaders and high level officials abuse power to appropriate public funds for personal gain,” said José Ugaz, the chair of Transparency International.

“Corrupt officials smuggle ill-gotten assets into safe havens through offshore companies with absolute impunity,” Ugaz added. “Countries at the bottom need to adopt radical anti-corruption measures in favour of their people. Countries at the top of the index should make sure they don’t export corrupt practices to underdeveloped countries.”

More than two thirds of the 175 countries in the 2014 Corruption Perceptions Index score below 50, on a scale from 0 (perceived to be highly corrupt) to 100 (perceived to be very clean). Denmark comes out on top in 2014 with a score of 92 while North Korea and Somalia share last place, scoring just eight.

The scores of several countries rose or fell by four points or more. The biggest falls were in Turkey (-5), Angola, China, Malawi and Rwanda (all -4). The biggest improvers were Côte d´Ivoire, Egypt, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (+5), Afghanistan, Jordan, Mali and Swaziland (+4).

The countries of the European Union indeed have higher index scores than countries further east. But corruption scandals are not limited to Ukraine and Turkey. This year has been marked by numerous scandals in the heart of “old Europe”: in France, Spain and Italy they included a former president, a current regional president and members of the royal family, not to mention dozens of politicians and influential business people.  Read the full rankings here.