Six people have been arrested in an operation that has been tracking the transport of illegal immigrants into Portugal.
The joint operation between Portugal’s border authority, the SEF, and the French authorities has been going on for two years and has involved tracking cars and minivans heading to Portugal carrying illegal immigrants for processing through the-easy-to-use Portuguese system.
An SEF source commenetd that “Many people try to regularise their situation in Portugal before going on to other places in central and northern Europe, where they settle.”
Five of the arrests took place in France with the sixth arrest involving a 33-year-old man in Portugal following searches of his home and car by officers equipped with a court warrant.
The criminal investigation has been a long running one under the direction of the Department of Investigation and Penal Action in Lisbon in coordination with the French authorities.
The immigrants, supplied with false or stolen documents, have been processed by the SEF in Portugal to enable them free travel throughout Europe.
Officers involved in the operation have been tracking those using the various routes into Portugal and have collected evidence of the group’s activities including the substantial income from ‘services rendered’ to the illegal immigrants.
The trips were made by land in cars and minivans travelling from several European countries and was spotted and investigated in cooperation with Europol and Eurojust.
