According to the Judiciary Police (PJ) statement released today, the five men are suspected of being part of “an organized criminal group dedicated to drug trafficking by air” and were arrested in an operation by the National Unit to Combat Drug Trafficking of PJ, as part of an investigation by the Department of Investigation and Criminal Action (DIAP) of Lisbon.
The detainees are aged between 28 and 42 and were presented to court for the first judicial interrogation and application of coercive measures, with the investigation still ongoing.
“During the “Ghost Passengers” operation, it was possible to determine that the detainees, armed with plane tickets that they did not use, accessed Lisbon Airport with the purpose of removing from the baggage carousel two suitcases containing cocaine, coming from a flight from Latin America”, explained the PJ in a statement.
According to the PJ, during the operation, which had the collaboration of the PSP division at the airport, “it was possible to verify that two of the detainees, under the supervision and control of the remaining three, who were also carrying out counter-surveillance maneuvers, collected two suitcases that they took outside the airport, where they ended up being intercepted”, and the inside of the luggage contained “the equivalent of around 780 thousand individual doses of cocaine”.
“Following the arrests, house searches were also carried out, seizing around 30 thousand euros in banknotes, three motor vehicles, a prohibited firearm, ammunition and various documentation”, added the PJ in the statement.
