The arrests took place as part of a police operation triggered by an earlier prosecution of crimes of theft, qualified damage and drug trafficking according to the GNR District Command of Bragança.


The eleven detainees are part of a group of 14 suspects, aged between 28 and 55 “characterised by the organised manner of their conduct, the evident care in the pursuit of criminal activity and the planning of their actions.”


The group, according to the GNR, “operated mostly in more isolated villages and towns in the Bragança district and in addition to drug trafficking, carried out theft in homes, agricultural warehouses, establishments, chapels and churches and in cultural and recreational associations.”


“These thefts targeted various materials, such as agricultural machinery, non-precious metals and motorcycles, causing social alarm, with the consequent feeling of insecurity of the local population” said the GNR in a statement.

The GNR believes that it dismantled the group that “had been operating for several years” through the arrest of the 11 individuals and the questioning of the three remaining suspects.


The operation that dismantled the group involved “95 members of the security forces, including GNR, namely the Public Order Intervention Group of the Intervention Unit, elements of the Criminal Investigation Structure of Territorial Commands of Porto, Braga, Vila Real, Guarda and Viseu, as well as members of the Public Security Police.


During the operation on 26 July, the GNR conducted several home and vehicle searches in which they recovered “numerous stolen assets”. The seized material includes hundreds of doses of drugs, money, phones and vehicles, as well as three pistols, five hunting guns and more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition.


GNR also recovered material from the village robberies such as agricultural tools and fuel, illicit alcohol bottles, toolboxes and two railway sleepers.