In a statement, the office said that “searches of 16 homes are underway as part of an inquiry directed by the MP in which various IT attacks are being investigated – including the most recent on 25 April of 2016.”
According to reports, among the sites hacked on the 25 April bank holiday were websites belonging to the PJ, the Supreme Court, Parliament and Citius.
The premises being searched are in various parts of the country, but above all Greater Lisbon.
“At issue are the crimes of illegitimate access, of IT damage, IT sabotage and also criminal association” the statement reads, further noting that the investigation is covered by judicial secrecy.
Earlier, a PJ source told Lusa News Agency that the searches began at 7.30am on Wednesday morning in various parts of the country, including Lisbon and the north of Portugal, as part of an investigation relating to attacks on state information systems.
In a statement sent to The Portugal News the PJ confirmed action has taken place under the name Operation Caretos 2.
“The PJ has been carrying out, throughout the course of this morning, action in various locations on national territory in an operation to combat information and technology crime”, it confirmed on Wednesday.
“The PJ is continuing investigations aimed at monitoring all current cases of this criminal activity and to identify the authors of their practice, instigation, vindication or support.”
In February of last year the PJ detained eight people aged between 17 and 40 for information piracy. They were suspected of practicing the crimes of sabotage of information systems, damage to information systems, illegitimate access and undue access to various state IT systems, as well as to the systems of private companies.
The arrests took place after the PJ in Lisbon carried out various searches nationwide of so-called ‘hacktivists’.
At the time, a police source told Lusa that the searches were of premises of suspects linked to the organisation Tugaleaks, a Portuguese organisation inspired by Wikileaks.
The detainees were resident in the Greater Lisbon and Porto areas, and belonged to Anonymous Portugal and other related groups.