Latest news and stories about crime report in Azores, Portugal for expats and residents.
An anti-drug trafficking operation in Rabo de Peixe, Azores, led to eight arrests and subsequent violent unrest, prompting political calls for increased police resources and structural social interventions.
PSP officers faced a violent confrontation in Rabo de Peixe, Azores, after an anti-drug operation led to the arrest of eight suspects, forcing police to use pepper spray and warning shots to disperse a hostile crowd.
An investigation into the lives of a school psychologist and a Zumba instructor who evaded justice for 12 years in Portugal after being convicted of torturing patients at a clinic in Brazil.
The man shot by the PSP was discharged from the hospital under arrest two hours after the incident.
The man is charged with attempted murder. Previously indicted for drug trafficking and physical assault, he was released with an unspecified coercive measure.
The detainee already had a criminal record. The crime allegedly took place inside the suspect's vehicle.
Two home search warrants were executed, resulting in the seizure of 1,247 euros in cash, narcotic substances, two mobile phones, one unlicensed firearm ammunition, and various paraphernalia associated with the preparation and sale of narcotics.
This is the harshest sentence ever handed down to a mayor in Portugal. The Ponta Delgada Court, in the Azores, sentenced the former mayor of Nordeste, Carlos Mendonça, to 10 years in prison and a fine of 300 days yesterday.
The men, aged 37 and 53, were in possession of 43,205 doses of narcotics.
The seizure was carried out by members of the Local Command of the Maritime Police of Santa Cruz das Flores, who detected and collected the package.
The product was seized and investigations have begun to determine its origin
The seizure was carried out by members of the Horta Local Command of the Maritime Police, who detected and collected the package.
Two men, aged 43 and 65, were arrested again in Ribeira Grande, São Miguel, for drug trafficking. They had already been caught in the same investigation in May.
Men aged 43 and 65 had already been arrested in May.
The detainees, aged between 18 and 36, were brought before the competent judicial authority on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning.
The case involves suspicions of drug trafficking. During the operation, police were met with stone-throwing.
Three of the eight people detained on Thursday in Rabo de Peixe, on the island of São Miguel, have been placed in preventive detention.
The arrests took place during a police operation marked by an attack by locals on four PSP vehicles in Rabo de Peixe, in the municipality of Ribeira Grande.
The PSP seized over 7,000 doses of cocaine, hashish, and cannabis, along with nearly 18,500 euros. Locals attacked police vehicles with stones, forcing officers to fire six warning shots.
The detainees, aged between 18 and 36, were brought before the competent judicial authority on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning.
The PSP has announced that it has already identified the alleged perpetrators of the attack on the police officers, with more potentially being identified through footage recorded at the time.
A former couple, previously convicted of torture in Brazil, resided in Portugal for over a decade, during which the man was employed as a school psychologist.
The leader of the PS/Azores warns of a lack of PSP resources and social problems in Rabo de Peixe, advocating for structural responses to drug trafficking and violence against officers.
Following an operation that resulted in eight arrests and the seizure of over 2,000 doses of drugs, locals threw stones at PSP vehicles. Police have already identified the alleged perpetrators.
Four vehicles belonging to the PSP were damaged on Thursday by locals in Rabo de Peixe, in the municipality of Ribeira Grande, a situation that led officers to fire warning shots into the air.
The Ministry of Internal Administration guarantees that “the authority of the State must be respected and these behaviors must deserve a firm response, in accordance with the law”
The PSP has announced that it has already identified the alleged perpetrators of the attack on the police officers, with more potentially being identified through footage recorded at the time.
The Rabo de Peixe Parish Council deeply regrets the behaviour of some inhabitants during a police operation. It reinforces that they do not represent the majority of the population.
The mayor considers the episode “serious and condemnable” and admits it is a sad day. He praised the professionalism of the officers in “dealing with the unexpected” and advocates for firm action by the authorities against drug trafficking.
