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Crime

An aerial view of the PSP police station in Lagos in the Algarve, a long white two-storey building with a blue Policia sign above its entrance beside a roundabout.

Reporting a Crime in Portugal in 2026: A Practical Guide to Queixa Versus Denúncia, the Six-Month Clock, the Three Classes of Crime, the Free Interpreter, and the Eighteen Offences You Can File Online

Telling the police what happened is not the same act as asking the state to prosecute, and for theft, fraud, damage, threats and simple assault the difference decides everything. The clock runs six months from the day you learned who did it.

The Portugal Brief 27 Aug 2026

The neoclassical stone facade of the Tribunal da Relacao de Lisboa beside the Pacos do Concelho, with its arched iron gate and brass plaques above black-and-white calcada paving.

Twenty-Two Months After Cova da Moura, the Officer Who Shot Odair Moniz Is Back on Duty and the PSP Will Not Say in What Role

Bruno Pinto has resumed service, and the PSP declined to say what duties he has been given. His three-and-a-half-year suspended sentence is not final: the prosecution wants at least five years, and expulsion from the force, at the Lisbon Court of Appeal.

The Portugal Brief 26 Aug 2026

A white and blue PSP patrol car parked on granite cobbles at Largo Primeiro de Dezembro in Porto, with the word POLICIA along its bonnet and side.

More Crime, Less Violence: Porto's Police Area Counts 10.9 Percent More Offences and 8.4 Percent Fewer Violent Ones

Provisional PSP figures given to Lusa put general crime in the Porto metropolitan command 10.9 percent above the same stretch of last year, with violent and serious crime down 8.4 percent. Offences the police found themselves, rather than ones reported to them, rose 17.5 percent.

The Portugal Brief 26 Aug 2026

The Oura Strip in Albufeira looking north along Avenida Dr. Francisco Sa Carneiro, lined with bar terraces, ornate street lamps and illuminated signs under a clear blue sky.

Twelve Injured on Albufeira's Oura Strip After a Driver Told to Stop Accelerated Into the Crowd at 3am

A car parked on Rua da Oura began to move at about 03:00 on Tuesday. Ordered to stop by a GNR patrol, the driver reversed and accelerated into pedestrians and the police line. Ten civilians aged 18 to 22 and two GNR officers were hurt. The 35-year-old driver blew 1.29 grams per litre.

The Portugal Brief 25 Aug 2026

Two banded bundles of euro banknotes lying on a pale wooden desk, a strap of fifties behind a thicker strap of twenties, serial numbers printed on the paper bands

One Abandoned Suitcase in Porto Held More Fake Euros Than Portugal Seized in All of 2025

More than seven thousand counterfeit 200-euro notes, face value 1,470,000 euros, were left beside recycling bins on Rua do Almada. The 2025 Annual Internal Security Report puts the whole year's euro seizures at 952,725 euros across 19,366 notes.

The Portugal Brief 24 Aug 2026

Fishing boats moored inside the harbour wall at Rabo de Peixe, Ribeira Grande, on the north coast of Sao Miguel in the Azores

Three of the Eight Held in the Rabo de Peixe Drug Raid Go to Pre-Trial Detention, Days After Residents Stoned Four Police Vans

Eight people aged 18 to 36 were detained on Thursday in the Sao Miguel fishing parish, with 2,022 doses of cocaine, 5,355 of hashish and 18,490.95 euros seized. As the PSP withdrew, residents threw stones and timber at four vans and officers fired six warning shots.

The Portugal Brief 23 Aug 2026

The Guadiana estuary at Vila Real de Santo Antonio in the eastern Algarve, looking across choppy water towards the Guadiana International Bridge and the Spanish bank

A Spanish Tip-Off on the Guadiana Ends With 2,133 Bales of Hashish and Seven Men in Custody

The GNR's coastal-control unit took roughly 5,320 kilograms of cannabis resin near Castro Marim on Saturday after the Guardia Civil flagged movements across the river. Seven foreign nationals aged 21 to 39 were detained, along with a pistol, two boats and three vehicles.

The Portugal Brief 23 Aug 2026

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