Seven detained in preventive custody for drug trafficking in Alentejo
Ourique Court has determined preventive custody for five men and two women from a group of 15 defendants accused of drug trafficking in Alentejo.
Ourique Court applies preventive custody to seven of 15 defendants in Aljustrel drug network
Ourique Court has determined preventive custody for five men and two women, belonging to the group of 15 arrested in Alentejo for alleged drug trafficking, criminal association and possession of prohibited weapons, according to cmjornal.pt, citing a statement from the Beja Territorial Command of the GNR released this Friday.
The 15 defendants — 13 men and two women, aged between 18 and 53 — were brought before an initial judicial interrogation. Seven are remanded in custody; the remaining eight were released, but subject to various precautionary measures.
Among the obligations imposed on the eight who were released are periodic check-ins at the police post in their area of residence and prohibition from frequenting streets adjacent to drug-selling locations. They are also barred from leaving the country, with mandatory surrender of their passports, from contacting by any means the remaining suspects and witnesses, and from acquiring or using weapons. The 15 defendants must also attend medical consultations for drug-addiction treatment.
The operation that led to the arrests took place on 18 May, in the municipalities of Ferreira do Alentejo and Aljustrel, through the Criminal Investigation Unit (NIC) of Aljustrel. The GNR announced the following Friday the arrest of 14 people — 12 men and two women. Subsequently, as part of the same investigation, another Portuguese national was arrested, bringing the total number of defendants to 15.
The investigation had been ongoing for six months and made it possible to identify and dismantle, according to the GNR, a criminal network dedicated to the sale and distribution of drugs that operated in the Aljustrel and Ferreira do Alentejo region. The operation mobilised a total of 162 military personnel from various units across the country.
During the operation, 106 doses of cocaine, ten doses of hashish, ten ecstasy tablets, four vehicles, two firearms, three ammunition rounds of different calibres, two daggers, two tactical knives and one airsoft weapon were seized. Six precision scales, 18 mobile phones, €2,385 in cash and various drug-packaging material were also recovered.
Source: Google News PT — Crime (pt)