Motorcycle gangs sow insecurity in Lisbon with luxury watch thefts
Several armed criminal groups attack victims at traffic lights and car parks in Lisbon and the Algarve. Police are investigating multiple gangs with similar methods.
Armed luxury watch robberies proliferate in Lisbon and spread across the country
Correio da Manhã reports that a number of criminal groups are creating a climate of insecurity in Lisbon and other regions of the country through armed robberies carried out by individuals on motorcycles.
The initial pattern was precise: two thieves on a motorbike would select specific targets — bearers of luxury watches — and approach them when they were leaving car parks or stopped at a traffic light. With the threat of a firearm, they forced the victims to hand over their watches. The operations concentrated on a defined axis: Avenida da Liberdade, Amoreiras and Avenida António Augusto Aguiar.
The success of the first robberies attracted imitators. As the practice gained media visibility, the thefts dispersed across the entire city and subsequently spread to other regions of the country, including the Algarve.
From specialised group to multiplication of gangs
The evolution of the phenomenon resulted in a change of profile. What began as a single co-ordinated gang specialising in high-value watches transformed into a plurality of groups with less refined methods. They began to operate in groups of three or four members, distributed across two motorbikes, and to act in a more impulsive and disorganised manner. They also stopped limiting themselves to watches: they began stealing everything the victims had with them.
This growing disorganisation brought with it an increased risk. The most serious incident recorded so far was a failed robbery in which one of the thieves ended up dead.
Police face fragmented investigation
The proliferation of groups with similar modus operandi complicates the work of the authorities. The police now have to investigate multiple gangs simultaneously, without there being a single central nucleus to dismantle. According to Correio da Manhã, the pressure to act swiftly is high: prolonging the situation without visible response risks consolidating a widespread sense of insecurity among the population.
Source: Correio da Manhã