A 38-year-old man suspected of belonging to a violent criminal gang that tried to kill and extort money from a businessman in Vila do Conde in 2021 and 2022 was arrested in Madrid, Spain, the Judicial Police (PJ) said. Tuesday.
A police statement said the suspect was arrested on Sunday following an investigation already completed by Porto police together with Europol’s international cooperation department and Spanish authorities.
The detainee, suspected of crimes related to attempted murder, extortion, drug trafficking, possession of prohibited weapons and qualified theft, which occurred in Vila do Conde and Maia in the district of Porto, appeared before the Criminal Investigation Court, where he was given a preventive measure . detention was used – a more serious coercive measure, as the SP reported.
The SP explained that this person will be part of a violent criminal organization with great geographical mobility, which in April 2021 will approach a merchant in the Vila do Conde area with a request to pay a “commission” for each box of textile products that he sold in the area of your establishment .
According to police, the dealer refused to pay, but was approached twice more and threatened with death if he did not comply.
After his refusal at the end of August of the same year, the merchant was “brutally attacked with a fist, a foot and a bladed weapon,” with deep blows to the chest.
“During a police operation carried out in February 2022, four greenhouses dedicated to the industrial and illegal production of lamba were located at former production sites in the Maya region,” he added.
The greenhouses were equipped with “a sophisticated electrical system with 400-watt heat lamps, fans, hoods, filters, pots, bags of soil and fertilizer designed for large-scale drug production and drying,” he said.
The SP indicates that at that time, 2,077 cannabis plants weighing a total of 276 kilograms, firearms, ammunition, identity documents, dozens of false passports and several thousand euros in cash were seized.
As part of this operation, six people were arrested, but they were sentenced to terms ranging from five to seven years in prison.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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