A regular traffic inspection exercise on the Portuguese side of the Guadiana International Bridge resulted in GNR officers seizing 46,000 cigarettes that were being imported illegally.The stop and search activity last Saturday aimed to check paperwork on goods being shipped into Portugal and to see if any unlicensed vehicles were transporting paying passengers.
Officers stopped and questioned the occupants of a vehicle, three men and one woman, and found the cigarettes packed into several suitcases.
The value of the haul was around €9,400 with more than €7,500 Special Consumer Tax not declared or paid to the State.
Over in the Benagil area, the GNR arrested three people after the burglary of a house on Wednesday, May 23.
The gang had been targeting the homes of the recently deceased or their families, while everyone was off at the funeral.
Consult the obituary columns to choose their victims, the gang is suspected of having burgled over a dozen houses in the Algarve and lower Alentejo.
The GNR searched the gang's properties, their vehicles and two commercial premises, in Lagos and Portimão.
Officers confiscated four computers, four LCD TVs, four tablets, two cameras, two video game consoles, nine clocks, a bag of golf clubs, several gold bracelets and chains, ten mobile phones, bank cards , £350 and €1,045 in cash, a crowbar and various other tools used in the burglaries, two mopeds and two cars.
