In a statement, SEF Borders and Immigration Service says the arrest was carried out in compliance with a European arrest warrant as part of operation ‘Amouda’, which in January this year led to the arrest and pre-trial detention, also in Lisbon, of four other persons indicted for crimes associated with illegal immigration, falsification or counterfeiting of documents, marriages of convenience and criminal association.


News site Diário de Notícias reports SEF further revealed that four of its inspectors last week collaborated on seven house searches in the German towns of Karlsruhe, Aalen, Freiburg and Mahlberg, as part of investigations.


The operation resulted in the seizure of various documents “proving the activity of this network, including fake marriage certificates, passports of Portuguese citizens, proof of travel payments and receipts of money sent between members of the network, as well as diverse equipment such as smartphones and laptops” the statement detailed.


“These searches have made it possible to establish links between ongoing research carried out by SEF and other investigations taking place in Germany” it elaborated.


SEF recalls that, in January this year, it launched the ‘Amouda’ operation with backing from Europol and Eurojust.


This operation allowed the dismantling of a network dedicated to the recruitment of Portuguese women who travelled to Belgium and Germany, to marry third nationals, in order to facilitate their legalisation in those countries, to open businesses and obtain Social Security benefits.


The Portuguese women, the statement elaborated, were recruited to marry men from South Asia who they did not know, and would receive around five thousand euros for doing so.


“The couple would then travel to Belgium, where the Indonesian citizens would attempt to become legalised through marriage to an EU citizen, which allowed the husbands to remain in the European Union, obtain residence permits, and then obtain illicit profits through social benefits” the report explained.


The Portuguese branch of the network reportedly “recruited the women, falsified certificates and organised the wives’ journeys”.
The start of these investigations dates back to 2016, after Belgian authorities detected a suspicious increase in the number of marriage certificates issued in Portugal, which turned out to be fake.