Gouveia e Melo, Chief of Staff of the Navy, says that the increase in drug trafficking, off the coast of the Algarve, could generate a “disruption phenomenon” of “the most vulnerable areas of society” and “of the authorities themselves”. The increase in trafficking is also recognized by this official and the Algarve mayors have already reacted, asking for "more policing" on the beaches and in the Ria Formosa.
In an interview with Rádio Renascença, Gouveia e Melo asks Portugal to look into this crime and the need to regulate these vessels.
«This traffic moves billions of euros. If we don't do anything, it will take over the most fragile parts of society, fishing communities, people with difficulties in life and they will join these trafficking networks and will disrupt society, including the authorities themselves, given the monetary capacity that these networks have», says the Chief of Staff of the Navy.
In the opinion of Gouveia e Melo, «it is not the heaviest penalties that will solve the problem».
On the contrary, the official points out other measures: «prohibition of these vessels being able to operate in our ports; prohibition of these vessels being able to be made in national territory; banning the release of these agents when they are caught, instead of releasing them before the trial, because at that time they board another vessel and return to their homeland and no one ever hears about them”.
The Chief of Staff of the Navy asks for "measures that are really effective so that we can then take them to the final judgment, so that they do not disappear in the middle of the process as has happened".
«Justice has its competences and rules and we cannot interfere. We are the executive branch and we will always do our part with courage. But it gives us the feeling of some naivety in the way traffickers manage to deceive justice », he regrets, in the same Renaissance interview.
Henrique Gouveia e Melo also acknowledges that «there has been a progressive increase in hashish trafficking through the southern region of Portugal».
«We have seized a lot of vessels, many of them abandoned. When traffickers are at risk, they throw drugs into the sea and flee in one or another vessel to Morocco or the Strait of Gibraltar. However, we have seized more and they are retained by us and used, by court order, to combat this trafficking", he explains.
Also to the microphones of the Renaissance, António Pina, president of AMAL – Comunidade Intermunicipal do Algarve, argued that there is a «lack of policing» both on the beaches and in the Ria Formosa, with a need «for greater investment in the control of territorial waters».
In the view of Gouveia e Melo, «we [Navy] have the means that the country decided to assign by the elected government».
“My obligation is to do the most with what I have. Who will judge whether they are sufficient or not, is the political power», he concludes.
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