Three men suspected of committing various crimes of qualified fraud and aggravated forgery of documents were arrested in an operation carried out by the Judiciary Police's Southern directorate.
The arrests were carried out as part of an ongoing investigation carried out by the DIAP of Loulé, which led to several house and non-household searches in the region of Lisbon and the Tagus Valley.
«The criminal activity of those now arrested consisted of ordering goods (copper and construction materials) from companies in the sector, falsely identifying themselves as employees of client companies, goods that they later collected using the hiring of transport companies, paying against the delivery of forged bank checks», according to the PJ.
"In this way, the suspects avoided any direct contact with the injured parties, appropriating the goods that they resold quickly, using the identity of third parties for the respective invoicing, thus managing not to be directly associated with illicit business", he added.
So far, "occurrences practiced since the year 2021, the majority consummated, which resulted in direct damage to the victims estimated at around 130 thousand euros, in addition to affecting the image and good name of the companies on behalf of the which they presented themselves”.
The PJ admits that there may be more victims.
In the searches carried out, it was possible to locate and apprehend a considerable collection of evidence.
The three detainees, aged between 44 and 62, will be present for the first judicial interrogation for the application of coercive measures.
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