The Judicial Police (PJ) have arrested two men suspected of attempted murder and other violent crimes against members of rival gangs in the Algarve using knives and firearms, police announced Sunday.
According to the SP, the two detainees, aged 22 and 27, are suspected of committing a total of three crimes: attempted murder, two crimes related to kidnapping, three crimes related to aggravated robbery, one crime related to possession of a prohibited weapon, and a crime related to aggravated threat, and after the first judicial interrogation, they were placed under preventive detention.
The crimes occurred in Faro and Loulé between June and August this year, “as a result of an escalation of extreme violence that ultimately generated a sense of unrest among the population,” police said.
According to the SP, the crimes in question “mostly occurred between elements of competing groups, of which the detainees were a part,” and were based on “an attempt to dominate the territory for the practice of illegal drug trafficking.”
“The escalation of violence” began in early June in the centre of Faro, when during the day “one of the detainees fired a firearm at a member of a rival gang without hitting him,” PJ describes.
A few days later, on July 10, the detainees co-authored “kidnapped a man, took him from his home in Quarteira, Loulé, and transported him to a remote location” where they stole his personal belongings. They attacked him with a knife and shot him.
The victim managed to escape and required medical assistance, police added.
In August, in the city of Faro, those arrested “were responsible for several incidents involving knives and firearms,” such as robberies with death threats and assaults “the victims of which required hospital care.”
“Two situations occurred after a quarrel between both detainees, and one of them also required hospital care, including hospitalization,” the Accounts Chamber reports.
The arrests were carried out by the Southern Police Directorate “in close cooperation with the PSP Faro command.”
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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