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It was reported on 8^th October that Portugal and Morocco have refused to let a small aircraft carrying an Ebola sufferer land on their territory.

The small aircraft is reported to be carrying a Norwegian citizen who was infected with the Ebola virus in Sierra Leone according to the Spanish television station Antena 3.

Antena 3 is reporting that the plane ended up making a stop on Gran Canaria, where the security protocol for such cases was put in place. Nobody and no objects were allowed to leave the plane while it was in Gran Canaria.

The victim is said to be a 32 year old women who has been working as a medical doctor for Doctors Without Borders. She is the first person from Norway to be infected with Ebola and was airlifted out of Sierra Leone in a medical transport plane.

After tests in Sierra Leone confirmed that she was carrying the virus, the woman began her journey back to Oslo but the pilot needed to refuel along the journey.

The Portuguese and Moroccan authorities were contacted, but neither country gave permission to land, and the pilot ended up landing in the Canaries, where it spent 40 minutes before continuing on to Paris, where it made another stop, reported Antena 3.

Portugal will have access to the experimental treatment for the Ebola virus if any cases are diagnosed in the country, Health Minister Paulo Macedo said in Lisbon yesterday.

Speaking to the Parliamentary Health Committee, Macedo said that Portugal was fully prepared to respond to any potential cases of Ebola and had been assured that the health system would be supplied with the experimental treatment used on patients that survived the disease in the United States.

Macedo noted that Portugal was prepared both for “repatriation of a Portuguese citizen that may have been infected by the disease and for any case that comes in from abroad.”

Europol reported on 2nd October that 14 persons have been arrested in Spain and Portugal and 4,7kg heroin, 200g cocaine and 30kg drug adulterant was seized in an operation supported by Europol.

Spanish Guardia Civil and Policia Judiciaria of Portugal managed to arrest the leader of a criminal organisation behind drugs smuggling from different European countries to the Canary Islands and Portugal. Most of the arrests took place end of September and among the arrested persons nine were from Guinea Bissau, two from Guinea and two from the Dominican Republic and one from Cabo Verde.

The investigations started in October 2013 based on Guardia Civil’s knowledge that human couriers were used to smuggle drugs into the Canary Islands. Members from the criminal organisation were travelling frequently to European countries, mainly the Netherlands, in order to obtain the best quality drug at the best price and crucially, to recruit people in charge of transportation of the narcotic over to the Canary Islands. Their methodology for this purpose involved many national and international airport layovers, boat trips between the different archipelago islands, hiding the drugs inside the luggage, and so on, in order to avoid surveillance and monitoring by authorities and to make it difficult to search for the drug at its final destination.

Prior to distribution of the heroin, it was adulterated in Portugal in order to double or triple the quantity of drug finally placed in market.

During the operation, nine searches took place (seven in Portugal, one in Santa Cruz de Tenerife and one in Lanzarote).

The key which eased the investigation and enabled the arrest of the complete criminal organisation, revealing fully the drug route from its acquisition to the final consumer, was the close cooperation and coordination of the Guardia Civil, the Combat Unit for Drug Trafficking of the Policía Judiciaria from Portugal, and the constant and fluent information exchange with Europol, facilitating control of the members of the network when travelling throughout Europe.

It was reported on 1st October that the Judicial Police South executed a European Arrest Warrant and arrested a man wanted by French justice for criminal conspiracy, pimping and money laundering. The arrest took place in a villa on the outskirts of Boliqueime area to the west of Loule. According to a Safe Communities Algarve source locals in the area, reported seeing police activity in the village concerned just prior to the arrest.

The detainee, is a Dutch national living in the villa from where he operated the “prostitution ring”. He attracted clients in London , Paris and Amsterdam and linked them up with women in France, England and Romania, charging according to one source up to €500 per hour.

During the arrest the accused was found to be in procession of about €8500, £11,000, three computers, four mobile phones and various jewellery, which were seized. Subsequently the operation involved the seizure of bank accounts with deposits amounting to around €200,000.

The man is understood to have been under investigation by the French police for around a year and they recently requested assistance from the Portuguese Judicial Police.

The detainee, 55 years old, will appear at the Court of Appeal of Évora for application to be remanded in custody pending extradition to the French judicial authorities.

On 27^th and 28^th September GNR Loule detained three citizens of 19, 26 and 45-years of age for the crime of drug trafficking.

Following an action to fight crime and drug trafficking in the locality of Franqueada – Loulé, the GNR located the individuals concerned at the location.

After surveillance, the GNR observed the individuals preparing to sell suspected drugs.

Following their detention and follow up action, including searches at the residence of individuals in Loulé, 1,800 individual doses heroin, plus a precision scale, ten mobile phones and 193 euros  were discovered and seized.

Among the material seized were those related to the preparation, packaging and distribution of narcotics.

During the action a Portuguese citizen aged 38 years of age was arrested for possession of illegal firearm and an extendable baton

On 23^rd September GNR officers in patrol in Castro Marim identified four citizens aged between 17 and 27 years for robbery.

The GNR were alerted by a resident in Altura – Castro Marim, of a suspicious vehicle with four people inside, who circulating near unoccupied residences. After accessing the situation the GNR managed to intercept the car, which had Spanish registration a few minutes later  whilst on the EN 125, near Monte Gordo. Upon searching the vehicle and people inside, two crowbars, gloves, several pieces of gold and 900 euros in cash were discovered.

Following their detention the recovered goods were recognized by the victim of another robbery which had taken place the previous day in Castro Marim. Investigations are being undertaken to determine whether those detained are responsible for other offenses using the same modus operandi that occurred in recent days in the area.

On 25^th September 2014 officers from GNR Albufeira arrested a British citizen aged 36 years and identified four others for theft, after executing a number of search warrants.

The arrest resulted from an investigation by the GNR into the person’s involvement into a number of thefts at several hotels in the area.  The arrested person is reported to be British.

The detained citizen entered hotels and stole items belonging to tourists, including watches, computer high value items, bags and money.

During the search at his residence several computer items and various wristwatches and 184 doses of hashish and 1.2 grams of marijuana were recovered. The items recovered were part of items stolen from hotels which were previously reported to the GNR.

It has been reported in the media that the four persons identified were sent the stolen items by post by the person arrested.

It is this belief that the person arrested is responsible for many other thefts using the same modus operandi that have occurred in recent months in the area.

The person was first arrested in July this year and following an earlier court appearance has been reporting to the GNR.

On 25^th September 2014 at 0800 hrs the PSP Airport Security Division arrested a 59 year old foreigner for possession prohibited weapons.

The citizen was at the screening of passengers point at Faro International Airport for access to the departure lounge for the flight to Brussels. During a security check of his hand luggage three prohibited weapons (one spring type knife point, and two 11,50cm and knives with blade 10cm respectively), as well as a can of gasoline lighter with 125ml were discovered.

The objects were seized.

New 10 Euro bank note launched

The new €10 started circulating on 23 September 2014. It is the second banknote of the Europa series to be launched after the new €5, which started circulating on 2 May 2013. On 13 January 2014 Yves Mersch, member of the ECB’s Executive Board, unveiled the new €10. The other banknotes in the series will be introduced gradually over several years, in ascending order. The denominations remain unchanged: €5, €10, €20, €50, €100, €200 and €500.

The ECB and the national central banks of the Eurosystem are conducting an information campaign about the Europa series which includes a dedicated website. The campaign aims to help the public recognise the new notes and their security features. In June 2014, the Eurosystem distributed information materialon the Europa series and specifically on the €10 to professional cash handlers working in over 3 million shops and banks in the euro area.

It is important to note that the current 10 Euro note remains in legal tender and there will be plenty of advanced warning when the note is intended to be withdrawn in the future. People should be aware of anyone, especially any callers at your home, offering new notes in exchange for old ones in case they are counterfeit.

Details and samples of the new note and other information can be found at the ECB website.

From 22^nd September to 19^th October 2014 the National Republican Guard (GNR) will be carrying out “Operation – Senior Security 2014”  aimed at raising awareness of the elderly population,  in order to prevent them becoming victims of fraud and theft in homes and enhance the feeling of security. 

During operation, the 3761 GNR officers will conduct various awareness raising activities, through personal contacts and actions through seminars and the distribution of leaflets with safety advice and contact details of various authorities in case of emergency or where help maybe required.

Taking into account the introduction of the new € 10 note, (the “Europa” series), on 23^rd September the GNR will be bringing this to the attention of the elderly through the distribution of leaflets on the subject.

It is aimed that the operation will reach around 34,000 people.

With cybercrime being the largest growing crime with an estimated annual global cost of  US$338 billion through fraud and lost time, it is important that we are more aware of the threats and what preventive steps can be taken to minimize the risk.

Safe Communities Algarve is therefore organizing in a conjunction with the Polícia Judiciária (Judicial Police) a series of Computer Security seminars for residents, the first two which will take place on 24^th and 30^th September 2014 in Quinta do Lago, Loule and Tavira respectively.

The key note speakers are Inspector Ricardo Valadas and Jim Litchko.  Ricardo is a cybercrime investigator from the Polícia Judiciária Cybercrime Unit and Jim Litchko, CISSP, computer security expert, author of six cybersecurity books, Johns Hopkins University professor from the USA.  Ricardo and Jim are renowned experts in cybercrime and cybersecurity in Portugal and the United States, respectively.  Both have conducted many presentations to international audiences both here and overseas, and their approaches are very practical with excellent interaction with audiences.

Topics to be covered include: work of the Judicial Police in investigating cybercrime in Portugal; work of the FCCN; technical developments; child pornography; cyber-attacks and preventing such attacks; types of on-line fraud; Ransomware and Phishing attacks; on-line transactions and the use of credit cards; and, cost-effective and practical preventative counter-measures.  Details of the program which may include other speakers will be published shortly.

We are pleased that there will be a representative from the Mayor of Loule’s office attending on 24^th and the Mayor of Tavira will attend the event on 30^th September.

The details and timings of the two events are as follows:

• 24^th September 1730   – 1930 hrs –  Conrad Hotel, Quinta do Lago
• 30^th September 1730  – 1930 hrs – Municipal Library, Biblioteco Municipal Alvaro de Campos, Tavira.

The events are in English and entry is free. It is planned to devote around half of the seminar to questions and answers. More details of the event and program will be published in due course on www.safecommunitiesalgarve.com.

This is likely to be heavily subscribed and seating is limited. Attendance is on a first come first served basis so if you would like to reserve seats please contact Safe Communities Algarve at info@safecommunitiesalgarve.com or on 913045093. Entry is free.