Portuguese businessman was detained in Spain accused of being the “main supplier of super-boats” to organized drug trafficking rings

Portuguese businessman was detained in Spain accused of being the “main supplier of super-boats” to organized drug trafficking rings following a joint effort between Spanish and Portuguese police.An investigation carried out by the Guardia Civil de Pontevedra (Galiza, Spain) and the GNR of Valença (Portugal) resulted in the detention of the man who is believed to have supplied powerful boats which were used to ferry drugs between the Iberian Peninsula and Northern Africa.Four Spanish citizens were also arrested in connection with the investigation.
Identified as Carlos A.P., the Portuguese businessman has a factory in Cerdal, Valença, and is also believed to be involved with supplying vigilance transportation used during the trafficking and its respective distribution.During the year-long investigation the individual, who has no previous criminal convictions, was responsible for producing and supplying 25 vessels.Equipped with four or five engines, the speedboats were designed to travel between Morocco and Barcelona, at high speed, generally carrying up to three tones of hashish.

Sex crimes against minors has tripled between 2002 and 2007, now counting an average 1,400 cases per year.

According to figures released by the Portuguese prosecutors’ office (PGR), the number of cases relating to sex crimes against minors has tripled between 2002 and 2007, now counting an average 1,400 cases per year.These figures were established through a report by the Institutionalized Child’s Abuse and Sexual Commerce Protection Group, based on data supplied by the PJ police information unit.
It further states “the total number of crimes involving children and minors has risen between 2003 and 2007 by 628”.In 2007 alone, 561 cases of child abuse were instigated in the region of Lisbon, 23 more than in 2006, and 27 more than 2005.
The group has described this trend as being “very worrying”, given the “accentuated fall in victims’ ages, which in some cases reported as being less than one year old”.
Around 34.86 percent of cases involve some form of family relation between aggressor and victim, whilst the scene of crime in 46.14 percent of cases is the place of residence.Another major concern is the distribution of child pornography on the internet.In Lisbon, in 2007, 67 cases were investigated relating to child pornography, and nine missing children’s cases caused by online contact were successfully resolved.

international drug-smuggling ring:Spanish police arrested five suspects

several tons of cocaine hidden in a cargo of frozen octopus. Eight people are in custody.235 of the 635 boxes on board were found to contain a frozen substance with traces of octopus, but which also tested positive for cocaine. The total weight, including the ice, is 9.4 tons. A complete analysis of the cargo is being carried out at the Police Forensics Laboratory in Lisbon to determine exactly how much cocaine is in the boxes.Five of the eight arrests took place in Spain: in Toledo, Madrid and Salamanca. One of them is originally from Colombia, but now has Spanish nationality. There were also four property searches which resulted in police confiscating 50,000 € in cash, laptop computers and PDAs, two luxury vehicles, mobile phones, and a large amount of documentation.
The refrigerated container reached the port in the Portuguese capital, Lisbon, on 22nd December, ostensibly with a cargo of 24 tons of frozen octopus. It came from Venezuela and was to be delivered to a Portuguese importers, and then sent on to Spain.
Portuguese police said Monday they had seized 9.4 metric tons (10.4 tons) of cocaine hidden in a ship container and broken up an international drug-smuggling ring.
A police statement said a joint investigation with Spanish authorities that lasted almost three years led to the discovery of the cocaine last month in a ship that docked at Lisbon after traveling from Venezuela.
The cocaine was dissolved in a frozen liquid that was part of a cargo of octopus, the statement said.
Following the seizure, Spanish police arrested five suspects, including one Colombian, and two other people were detained in Portugal.three people taken into custody in Portugal are all Portuguese, and one is a woman.