Faro court ordered probation for four of the five men who had been arrested for acquiring large sums of money withdrawn from banks by business customers who were followed and later robbed.
The group’s members are from Lisbon and Setúbal but were nabbed in Gondomar and hauled down to Faro after a long operation during which the GNR managed to identify the men, largely due to their particular modus operandi.
The gang whose members ranged in age between 60 and 70, acted "with a high degree of organisation and in concerted way right across the country," including in Faro, Setúbal, Aveiro, Lisbon, Leiria, Porto and Braga," according to Faro GNR who added that as the men wore typical 'old men' hats or caps, no one paid any attention to them as they were clocking who came and went from bank branches and how much they were carrying in cash.
Four of the duffers brigade are enjoying some Algarve hospitality in jail for the time being and the fifth has periodically to report in to his local police station.
In the course of the operation that led to the arrest of the gang, some 25 houses were searched as well as businesses and vehicles in Lisbon, Setúbal and the Algarve.
The searches uncovered "large amounts of money, in the order of several hundred thousand euros" and up to a million euros is thought to have been taken by the gang.
The men staked out banks and waited until a customer withdrew a large cash sum. The victim then was followed and robbed.
The GNR in Faro acted in collaboration with their counterparts in Lisbon and Setúbal in an operation lasting ten months. Those arrested already had criminal records for theft.
The gang's recent activities were executed with a "high degree of professionalism and efficiency, helped by their mobility and the extended geographic radius of action."
The GNR also said that efforts are continuing to identify more victims and more of the gang’s associates.
