The man is being held in custody pending trial.
His arrest was made in connection to an operation named ‘Magic Book’, which investigated the aforementioned set-up, allegedly conducted by citizens born in the former Portuguese territories of Goa, Daman and Diu.
The suspect was originally detained in Leicester on 2 December last year after a letter of request was sent from Portuguese SEF authorities to their British counterparts asking for home searches.
This was followed by proceedings for the man’s extradition, which culminated in the suspect being transferred to Portugal, where he was brought before a judge and placed in custody.
In a statement SEF explained that its investigation has “allowed the dismantling of a criminal organisation that, in exchange for large sums of cash, sometimes up to €30,000, forged documents to achieve the attribution of Portuguese nationality to foreign citizens, either via original allocation (in some cases posthumously), or via the transcription of marriages.”
Another four suspects are also being held in custody while a further seven have been subject to non-freedom-depriving measures.