It all started in a company in Aveiro, from which a 55-year-old Portuguese bought online weapons (and silencers). Then, in his house, in the municipality of Loulé, he transformed both silencers and compressed air weapons into firearms. In between, there is another 46-year-old suspect from Viseu, also Portuguese, with whom he had contacts and who bought material from the same company. At the tail end of the arms trafficking network, there was an objective: the sale in Portugal.
This operation, under the responsibility of the GNR Criminal Investigation Nucleus of Loulé, which culminated in the seizure, this Monday, April 3, of, for example, 53 compressed air guns and 200 silencers, began with the suspicion of weapons transformation on the part of the suspect from Loulé.
Then came this company, from Aveiro, which, despite having a license to sell firearms, could not sell firearms, let alone silencers, as this is an illegal material in Portugal. Still, it was at this establishment that the two suspects bought the material.
In Loulé, for example, two 12-caliber shotguns were seized, when the maximum allowed in the country is 5.5.
And what would this weaponry be used for? Paulo Santos, major commander of the Loulé GNR Detachment, told the Sul Informação that one of the indications “is hunting, due to the type of weapons”, not excluding the hypothesis that it could be used for crimes, such as robberies or assaults. "The investigation [which is still ongoing] will understand better," he added.
In between, 310 grams of foil were also seized. cannabis and 124 doses of hashish, referring to the suspect from Viseu, and two kilos of tobacco leaf, to the Algarve man involved in this arms trafficking network. To this are also added tools and accessories used for transforming weapons.
In this “trinity” of crime, the two suspected men were constituted defendants and subject to a term of identity and residence. As for the owner of the company, «he was out of the country», concluded Paulo Santos, in his statements to our newspaper.
Photos: Pedro Lemos|Sul Informação
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