After two postponements, The trial of five individuals finally begins today in the Court of Beja, four Portuguese and one Brazilian, aged between 23 and 24 year old, who were part of the so-called “Hyper Gang”.
Defendants, three prisoners, one with an obligation to remain in the home (OPH) and a fifth escaped from justice, will be tried for committing five qualified crimes, four for theft and one for forgery of documents, facts committed between 11 January and 11 February 2023, in commercial areas in Évora and Beja.
Residents in the municipality of Lisbon, individuals worked in groups within hypermarkets, Where did they steal alcoholic beverages from?, food products and mobile phones worth 10.537,57 euros, having been detained by PSP agents from Beja, in the last of two thefts carried out, when they were still inside the Modelo store, in the city's Ratail Park.
The group entered hypermarkets and stole alarm deactivators from products, and “neutralized” the barcodes as if they were paid for. Three of the suspects continued to simulate an argument between themselves, attracting the attention of security guards, while the two left the place with the products, which they transported to a vehicle parked at the location.
The “Gang of Hypers” was betrayed by the theft carried out in the morning of the day 11 February last year, at the Worten store, on the mainland located at the other end of the city, next to the IP2, from where they took various electronic material and cell phones. Video camera footage viewed, the agents of the Criminal Investigation Police (EIC) they asked other district commands for information and realized that they were in the presence of a very dangerous and organized group.
After entering the Retail Parque establishment, “undercover” agents waited until they were ready to leave the space to make the arrests.
The five men, some of them already sentenced to effective prison sentences, have pending processes underway in Tomar, Montemor-o-Novo, Cascais and Vila Franca de Xira, and are also suspected of more than three dozen thefts committed since January 2022, in the Greater Lisbon area and in the Algarve.
Teixeira Correia
(journalist)
