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Crime

The headquarters of the Policia Judiciaria on Rua Gomes Freire in Lisbon, a large grey and white modern building with motorbikes parked outside under a blue sky

Prosecutors Spent Four Hours Inside a Judicial Police Unit, Looking for a Recording Its Director Told a Court Was Never Made

Magistrates, tax inspectors and forensic specialists searched the PJ's technology support unit on Wednesday in the false-testimony inquiry into Carlos Cabreiro. Nobody has been named a suspect, and the Rui Pinto appeal is still pending.

The Portugal Brief 23 Sep 2026

A Polícia Municipal de Lisboa traffic van in white and yellow livery crossing a Lisbon street, with tiled apartment buildings and tram wires behind it

Selling Fake Drugs in the Baixa Is About to Become a Crime in Its Own Right

The government will classify it as a public crime of fraud, which means prosecutors can act without a complaint from the tourist who was sold a bag of pressed bay leaf and has already flown home.

The Portugal Brief 19 Sep 2026

The carved stone lettering Supremo Tribunal de Justiça above the wrought-iron entrance gate of Portugal's Supreme Court in Lisbon

A Domestic Violence Victim's Pre-Trial Statement Now Stands Even If They Refuse to Testify, Portugal's Supreme Court Has Ruled

Acórdão do Supremo Tribunal de Justiça n.º 6/2026, published on Friday, fixes case law: a court may weigh declarações para memória futura taken before a judge during the investigation even when the victim later exercises the right to refuse to give evidence at trial.

The Portugal Brief 19 Sep 2026

The Palácio de São Bento in Lisbon, seat of the Portuguese parliament, seen from the street corner with the national flag flying above the portico.

The Interior Minister Would Put Offenders' Nationality in Next Year's Security Report, and the 251 Percent Figure Behind the Debate Is Mostly One Residual Category

Parliament debated the 2025 internal security report on Wednesday. Luís Neves said he is open to adding a nationality column to the 2026 edition. The report itself shows that 838 of the 1,205 immigration-related occurrences sit in a heading it never itemises.

The Portugal Brief 16 Sep 2026

A narrow Bairro Alto street in Lisbon at dusk, crowded with people walking between rows of restaurant tables under white and red parasols, with lit street lanterns overhead

Twenty-Seven Cameras in the Bairro Alto Get Another Three Years, in a City That Already Has 126 and Wants 616 More

A government order published on Monday renews Lisbon's oldest street surveillance system, running since 2014. The renewal itself is routine; what sits behind it is a plan to take the police camera network out of the nightlife districts and into residential neighbourhoods.

The Portugal Brief 14 Sep 2026

A GNR off-road patrol vehicle in Portugal, in the force's grey and lime livery, carrying the Guarda Nacional Republicana crest and the address www.gnr.pt on the door.

The GNR Has Detained 173 Fire Suspects This Year, the Most in a Decade, Out of 6,200 Fires It Investigated

The head of the GNR's nature protection service gave the figures in Vila Pouca de Aguiar on Friday. Burning agricultural and forest residues is still the biggest identified cause, most suspects are men in their fifties, and 19 percent of those detained are women.

The Portugal Brief 11 Sep 2026

The waterfront at Olhao in the Algarve on an overcast day, with fishing boats and yachts moored along the lagoon and people walking the cobbled promenade

The GNR Ruled Out a Hit-and-Run in Olhao That Same Night Because Two Blood Stains Sat Seven Metres Apart, and the Judicial Police Did Not Come

The trial of two PSP officers charged with the kidnapping and qualified homicide of Aissa Ait Aissa opened in Faro on Tuesday. A GNR sergeant told the court the PJ saw no sufficient indications to attend, and an inspector said the investigation began two months later.

The Portugal Brief 09 Sep 2026

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