Minister Urbano de Sousa reportedly made the comments during talks with her Spanish counterpart.
It comes after Spanish newspaper, El Mundo, quoting sources from the Spanish interior ministry, reported on Monday that the theft could be connected with an international arms ring, and not ‘jihadism’, which was reportedly an idea put forward by Spanish Home Affairs Minister, Juan Ignacio Zoido, during a G4 meeting.
In a statement sent to Portugal’s Lusa News Agency, the Portuguese Home Affairs Ministry said the El Mundo article “did not correspond to the truth”.
The G4 meeting of internal affairs ministers involves Portugal, Spain, France and Morocco, and aims to discuss questions relating to police cooperation and the prevention and combat of terrorism and drug smuggling, as well as the control of migrant flows.
The theft of the weapons from Tancos Barracks was detected last Wednesday, 28 June; the army said at the time that hand grenades and ammunition had been stolen. It was later admitted that grenade launchers were also stolen among other items.
Following the robbery, and due to concerns that the stolen military equipment could enter the black market to serve terrorism, national authorities alerted their European counterparts, such as Europol, and are working directly with the Spanish police. At the time of going to press Portugal had not raised its internal level of alert.
A list of the stolen weapons was published last weekend by Spanish website El Español, which said it had seen the list after it was handed to Spain’s anti-terror forces. Among the weapons stolen, according to El Español, were 1,450 9mm ammunition cartridges, 150 hand grenades, 44 anti-tank grenades, 18 tear gas grenades, 102 explosive charges, and 264 pieces of plastic explosive.
Portugal’s President, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, has called for an in-depth investigation into the theft to ascertain “facts and responsibilities”, to “prevent the occurrence of incidents that are as or even more serious than this” from happening again.
Speaking on Monday, the President refused to comment on news that army officials were being summoned to stage a protest on Wednesday, which was eventually called off.
Five military commanders have been dismissed in relation to the theft.
Meanwhile, four days after the theft, on Sunday night, the same barracks once again came under scrutiny after several shots were fired near its perimeter.
The shots were heard at around 9.30pm, reportedly near the 1st Regiment Commander’s House and in other locations in the vicinity of the unit. No injuries were registered in the incident. Security has been reinforced at the base.
The Portuguese government met in Lisbon on Wednesday to discuss the internal security situation following last week’s theft.
Lusa News Agency reports it is widely believed that there had to be inside knowledge about which building contained the weapons the thieves wanted, and when there were security rounds.