Officers from the Public Security Police (PSP) have arrested 11 people suspected of selling drugs near schools in Faro.
Nine of the detainees are Portuguese and two are Spaniards.
Officers from various branches of the police carried out 19 house searches and seized enough hashish for 6,423 joints, cannabis sufficient for 350 moments of pleasure, enough cocaine for 28 good sized snorts, 30 mobile phones, five sets of precision weighing scales and the various paraphernalia needed to packaging the drugs in equal measures.
PSP command says it believes the arrests have dealt a harsh blow to this type of drug supply crime that has been centred on schools in the Faro area.
The operation took place on Wednesday and Thursday and was the culmination of an intelligence operation that had been going on for about nine months.
The 19 house search warrants were executed with the support of the Criminal Investigation Brigade from Olhão and Tavira, some specialist forensic officers and other from the Special Police Unit in case of trouble.
Fourteen searches were conducted in Faro itself and the remaining five in properties not far from town.
The PSP also seized a Tazer, gas used to stun people and €6,250 in cash.
Some of the detainees already have served time in prison for this type of crime and younger ones already had been singled out by Safe School Programme teams.
The pushers can expect little leniency from the judges as adult occasional soft drug use can be deemed a harmless pleasure while pushing drugs at the school gates is unacceptable on many levels.
