In a statement SEF said that the four foreign nationals were detained for “strong suspicions that they belonged to a criminal network that aided illegal immigration and that they were facilitators and followers of other citizens who, bearing fraudulent documentation, used Portuguese airports to try to travel to other European countries, in this case, to Ireland”.


SEF explained that a 20-year-old citizen was initially detained for being in Portugal illegally as he prepared to travel to Ireland aided by facilitators.


After his arrest, SEF agents detained the other three citizens.


The security service elaborated that the incidents relating to the interception and detention of Eastern Europe citizens with falsified documentation at Portuguese border posts date from 2010.


The incidents took on particular relevance in 2012 when transnational criminal networks aiding illegal immigration, and who used Portugal as a transit platform to get nationals from Eastern Europe into Ireland and the United Kingdom, but also in Canada and the United States, were first identified.


Investigations by SEF, with the collaboration of Europol, have already identified criminal networks operating from Albania, Italy, the United Kingdom and Ireland.