The death of a GNR soldier, on the Guadiana River, off Alcoutim, after the boat he was traveling on was rammed by a speedboat, which was allegedly involved in a drug trafficking operation, not only reminds us of the risk associated with police missions against this type of crime, but also reveals that this is often an unequal fight. In addition to the Guadiana case, in recent days a police operation was known in Greater Lisbon, which resulted in the seizure of almost six tons of hashish and weapons. The PJ said it was a “highly sophisticated and dangerous” criminal organization. The network used speedboats to distribute drugs to warehouses (in one case, in Seixal, located on the riverbank), from where they were then transported and introduced onto the market. Traffickers had more warehouses and garages in municipalities such as Montijo, Almada, Sintra and Alcácer do Sal.
The degree of organization and the variety of resources used by criminals to control all aspects of the trafficking chain are increasingly developed in the country. Two examples: in December, an “industrial laboratory for the extraction, transformation and packaging of cocaine” was dismantled in the West region, “one of the largest in Europe”, admitted the PJ, which processed hundreds of kilos of drugs per day (1,500 kilos of cocaine were seized at the site); In 2022, an investigation led authorities to two shipbuilding companies, in Viana do Castelo, suspected of preparing speedboats for specific use in trafficking, providing them with specific characteristics such as compartments and multiple high-displacement engines.
The small drug dealer, leaning against a wall waiting for customers, has long since ceased to be the focus of the investigation. This must increasingly focus on the powerful international networks operating in Portugal, a country that the European Union Agency on Drugs, in your last reportidentified as one of the main entry points for cocaine in Europe. These are networks that have deep pockets, both to acquire equipment, weapons and technological means and to try to bribe officials who occupy key positions in infrastructures such as ports.
This financial capacity greatly tilts the balance in favor of traffickers. But, from a police point of view, there are also ways to respond, namely by strengthening investigation teams, which prevent tragedies like the one in Alcoutim in advance. It is, therefore, an irony of fate that the country is mourning the death of a GNR on the eve of the day on which dozens of ex-SEF inspectors who work at airports should be fully integrated into the PJ, reinforcing its various skills, which will not happen anytime soon because the Government was not able to implement the plan that was drawn up more than two years ago when the Foreigners and Borders Service was dismantled.
Executive Editor of Diário de Notícias
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