A bomb threat forced the closure of the Mar Shopping mall in Loulé this afternoon between 13:00 and 15:00. The GNR have revealed that they have already identified the suspect behind the threat.
An on-site witness revealed that the situation became obvious around 1pm, and ended around 3pm. During this period, the doors of the shopping complex were closed, and no one was permitted to leave or enter Mar Shopping. In the end “a man was caught.” The witness, who asked to remain anonymous, stated that “everything was crazy and people were all very scared”.
A source from the GNR that he had “received the warning, arrived at the location, and used his bomb training and general public security protocol to resolve the situation alongside the Mar Shopping security team.”
“The individual behind the bomb threat has already been identified. Now, for us, the situation is completely under control and the only thing left to do is normal criminal proceedings.”
The GNR source didn’t wish to reveal whether the decision to not evacuate the complex was made by the GNR, pointing to Mar Shopping’s own security protocol as the reason.
“The GNR, as a security force in the face of such a situation, must take a number of steps. But let us not forget that an infrastructure of this size has a private security force and its own protocols, which it must activate in case of a fire or when there is a bomb threat. Therefore, this question has to be asked to the head of security of Mar Shopping”, he said.
“The priority, both for the GNR and the commercial infrastructure, was to safeguard people's lives, and that has happened. We followed the normal steps in these types of situations”, assured the GNR source.
