Of the 59 Hell’s Angels detained by the police, the Public Prosecutor has asked for pre-trial detention for 54 of them.
Citing, "attempted murder, robbery, GBH and criminal association, which in itself is a criminal offence," the Public Prosecutor's Office was firm in its demands at a judicial hearing in Lisbon this morning.
The Public Security Police (PSP) has announced that seven people have been arrested in Lisbon and Faro, on suspicion of drug trafficking. The operation resulted in the seizure of enough drugs for 100,000 sales at street level.
In a statement, the PSP Metropolitan Command reported that five men and two women, aged between 25 and 49, were detained "selling narcotics," namely heroin and cocaine, "supplying the metropolitan area of Lisbon and the southern region of the country."
A daring gang has broken through a wall at a Post Office sorting office and robbed the safe of €5,000.
A Post Office depot on an industrial estate in Portimão was robbed over the weekend but such was the stealth of the gang members, nothing was spotted until 06:00 on Monday morning despite there being an obvious hole in the exterior wall.
Portugal’s national train company, CP has announced that it will be cutting back on services as it does not have enough engines and carriages.
The cut-back will start in August, an embarrassment to the Ministry of Infrastructure which is full behind promoting train travel and the transport of goods by rail.
Portugal’s Borders and Immigration Service (SEF) has reduced the Golden Visa application backlog from 6,000 at the end of last year, to an entirely acceptable 1,300 - an 80% improvement.
Additionally, waiting times for applicants to be interviewed by an SEF employee in Lisbon, have been slashed from three months or more, to one day.
The Council of Ministers’ July 14th edict to reduce tolls for Class 2, 3 and 4 goods vehicles on the Algarve’s Via do Infante motorway has been approved and will start in August.
The reduction includes additional motorways in the country’s interior and is all part of a National Programme for Territorial Cohesion.
An alcohol-fuelled brawl in the Rock Time bar in Albufeira’s Avenida Engenheiro Duarte Pacheco, ended up with the arrest of five foreigners.
An estimated 15 British tourists were causing a disturbance in the bar, according to the official police report, and the GNR was called to the scene at around 23:00 on Friday night. July 13th.
The Secretary of State for Tourism, Ana Mendes Godinho, admits that the fall in the number of British tourists coming to Portugal is worrying but draws comfort from the work already done to spread the word in other markets.
Ana Mendes Godinho says of the drop in British numbers, "it is a worry because it is one of the main markets," but there already is growth from other nations."
