The Interior Minister said on Friday that the police fight against drug trafficking in Porto is “without a truce”, but recalled that drug issues require “more structured and comprehensive responses”.
Referring to the districts of Pastelleira and Pinheiro Torres in Porto, José Luis Carneiro indicated that in 2022 the PSP carried out “about 2,000 criminal investigation patrols and preventive actions” and “400 arrests”.
Upon arriving at a meeting of the Alentejo Commission for Coordination and Regional Development (CCDR) in Évora, journalists questioned the minister as Porto Mayor Rui Moreira urged him to acquire “skills” to tackle the consumption problem. and drug trafficking in the city, and “don’t hide this case under the rug.”
José Luis Carneiro replied that “in everything that [de droga]”The fight must be fought relentlessly, and this is a fight that has been carried out” in Porto by either the PSP or the Judicial Police (PJ).
“What has a police dimension has been fully accepted,” he said, expressing his confidence in the security forces and the SP.
But “drug problems require more structured responses in the medium to long term,” he warned, recalling that this is why the Local Security Treaty (CLS) was concluded with the Porto City Council in 2016.
“This CLS is specifically focused on this area of the city. It is necessary to understand why this contract for the security facility is no longer valid,” said José Luis Carneiro.
The minister also said that he had already informed Rui Moreira “and other mayors” of the government’s readiness to “relaunch CLS, which were created in 2016 and for some reason are no longer active.”
Answers in this area of addiction require the involvement of services from different areas and different areas of action, he argued.
“They demand answers from the very beginning in terms of public health, in terms of social security, measures related to the fight against poverty, issues related to housing, transport, mobility, indeed, with all the dimensions that there is something to do. with the inclusion and creation of local conditions for the full realization of adolescents, youth and families whose lives have long been dominated by drug use and trafficking,” he said.
And in Porto, “the drug addicts who are in this area of the city this Friday were once in Bairro do Aleixo.”
“Bairro do Aleix was demolished, but the problems have not gone away. As you can see, the problem is re-emerging in other parts of the city,” he said.
In Évora, José Luis Carneiro met with the mayors of Alentejo to discuss rural fire prevention and present the European funds available for civil protection.