PCC cell released in Portugal after robbing €1 million from 15 banks
Six Brazilian robbers linked to the PCC were released due to excessive pre-trial detention. The group stole approximately one million euros from 15 Portuguese banks.
Judicial delay puts bank robbers linked to PCC back on the streets
Six Brazilian nationals suspected of carrying out armed robberies at 15 banking institutions in Portugal were released due to excessive pre-trial detention, CNN Portugal has found. The group is believed to have stolen approximately one million euros from across the country, kidnapping, threatening and assaulting customers and staff during their raids.
All the defendants are believed to have links to the First Capital Command (PCC). The Judicial Police seized documents proving this connection already within Caldas da Rainha Prison, where they were held after capture.
The release from prison occurred in early October. The court failed to issue an instructional judgment — which sends the case to trial — within the legal timeframe, which exhausted the maximum period of pre-trial detention for all those involved.
The Santarém Public Prosecutor's Office had brought charges in June, one year after the suspects' arrest. From that point on, the justice system had four more months to obtain an instructional decision. The deadline expired in October without that decision being handed down.
The group's leader, identified as Ediel Nery, left Lisbon Prison on 11 October. He was the one who coordinated the remaining members, detained in Caldas da Rainha. In a cell, the Judicial Police found a document with the PCC's "10 commandments", written by Ediel himself, which imposed silence on his accomplices on pain of death.
The case involves 11 defendants in total and includes crimes of aggravated robbery, kidnapping and criminal association. The main suspects, of Brazilian nationality, have had their passports seized, but the authorities admit they can no longer guarantee their presence at trial.
Source: CNN Portugal