The Judicial Police (PJ) is developing, Tuesday, a major operation to combat human trafficking in Cuba and in the parishes of Faro do Alentejo and Alfundão.
The mega-operation began with 5 hours of Tuesday, has learned the Lidador News (LN), against a network that exploited agricultural workers.
Vehicles were seized and several people were arrested., at the sites of the operation carried out by hundreds of inspectors from the National Counter Terrorism Unit of the Judiciary Police (UNCTPJ).
Beyond human trafficking, The suspects must be charged with criminal association, forgery and money laundering, the exploitation being at stake, in sub-human conditions and semi-slavery, of hundreds of foreign workers in agricultural fields, particularly in the upper Alentejo.
According to information collected by LN, two people covered by this operation were also involved in a similar operation that took place in Beja in November 2022 and which resulted 33 held.
The UNCTPJ Operational Center was installed inside Air Base No. 11, where the detainees and seized goods were initially transported.
“Operation Mirrorâ€- Organized criminal structure dismantled
Judiciary Police, through the National Counter Terrorism Unit, triggered today, within the scope of two surveys titled by DIAP of Évora, a vast police operation involving around four hundred and eighty operatives, in several cities and parishes in the Baixo Alentejo region, having carried out seventy-eight home and non-home search warrants, and detention outside of the act of committing a crime, Until now, of 28 men and women.
The suspects, are part of a criminal structure dedicated to exploiting the work of immigrant citizens, mostly, enticed in their countries of origin, such as, Romania, Moldavia, Ukraine, India, Senegal, Pakistan, among others, to come and work on agricultural farms in that region of our country.
The suspects, of Portuguese and foreign nationality, are heavily indicted for committing crimes of criminal association, trafficking in persons, aid to illegal immigration, recruiting illegal labor, of extortion, money laundering, fiscal fraud, physical integrity offenses, possession of a firearm and forgery of documents.
This police action, resulted in the seizure of several pieces of evidence, as well as the identification of dozens of victims.
This operation had the collaboration of Social Security in directing the victims, with immediate social support needs, and with the logistical support of the Portuguese Air Force.
The detainees will be present tomorrow for their first judicial interrogation, with a view to being subject to coercive measures considered appropriate.
Teixeira Correia
(journalist)
