Four men and two women who kidnapped an 82-year-old man, in the Almancil area, on the 25th of August, and took him to Spain, have now been arrested, after several home searches, for committing crimes of kidnapping, robbery with a firearm , criminal association and money laundering.
The operation took place on December 13th, in Spain, in the Málaga area, and was attended by elements of the Judiciary Police, in the development of a joint investigation by the Southern Directorate and the Spanish police authorities, Policia de la Generalitat de Catalunya ( Mossos d'Esquadra) and National Police Body (CNP).
The elderly man, kidnapped in August, was, according to the Judiciary Police, subjected to extortion, having suffered "violent attacks and threats, using firearms" and robbed of 100 thousand euros, "through transfers from the bank accounts of the victim to several destination accounts opened by the suspects using false documentation”.
After the robbery, the elderly man was “trapped in a tree, in a deserted place”. The objective was not to be found, but the octogenarian managed to free himself. The injuries resulted in the need to receive hospital treatment in Spain.
Given the transnationality of criminal activity, the investigation required, from the beginning, the constant sharing of police information between Portugal and Spain.
The searches carried out resulted in the seizure of “significant elements of evidence”, such as a firearm, replicas of firearms used in criminal actions, material intended for counterfeiting and forgery of identification documents and also various false documentation. Two Portuguese-registered vehicles that had been stolen on Portuguese soil were also recovered.
The detainees, aged between 21 and 43, have a criminal record for theft crimes in Spain, according to the Judiciary Police.
In a note, the authorities also state that on December 17th, investigative actions were carried out on national territory, in Lisbon, and other suspects presumably involved in this criminal network were identified.
Investigations continue with the aim of identifying other criminal acts related to the group.
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