Judicial police, in collaboration with French authorities, carried out a mega operation that culminated in the arrest of one of Lisbon’s biggest drug traffickers on Tuesday.
Heitor Brandao, a 45-year-old Cape Verdean born in Portugal, was caught in a cafe he owned on Rua Possidonio Silva in Estrela, Lisbon, under a European arrest warrant issued by French police. The suspect has a police record. Dozens of police inspectors are investigating the home of Heitor Brandan in Campo de Ourique.
So far, two more suspects have been arrested, both Portuguese.
According to the joint venture, the investigation identified three situations where cocaine was transported secretly in ship hulls. An organized group was involved in the importation of large quantities of cocaine from Central America, namely Brazil, to the European continent. During the investigation, which has been ongoing since the beginning of 2022, approximately 288 kilograms of cocaine and approximately 125 thousand euros were seized.
Heitor Brandao joined the PSD list of the Estrela Parish Assembly in 2013 in the Centir de Lisboa coalition. On Facebook, Heitor Brandao even shared an image of himself next to Luis Newton, who then topped the council list and is now the current parish president.
“I met him in 2013 when I first ran for council. At that time, he was already the president of the team, which has since ceased its activities. He has never served on the council. His sister works, and today they sent a message that I was not going to work. I was surprised. And I understood why only later, when I turned on CMTV. I was the president of the board for 10 years, of course, over 10 years I heard a lot of rumors, including about Heitor’s connections to drugs. But these were always just rumors: “I didn’t know anything, I never saw anything. He is not my friend, we just had institutional connections because I was the President of the Council and he was the President of the Collective,” says Luis Newton, President of the Estrela Parish Council, about the arrest of Heitor Brandão.
Author: Tanya Laranjo, Miguel Curado, Sergio A. Vitorino This Diana Cardozo
Source: CM Jornal
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