The Judiciary Police (PJ) announced in a statement that on Tuesday morning, it carried out a police operation to execute 71 search and seizure warrants, both domestic and non-domestic, as well as the arrest of five people suspected of defrauding the state in connection with the social mobility allowance. The searches occurred in Lisbon, Loures, and the Autonomous Region of Madeira, namely in Funchal, Santa Cruz, and Câmara de Lobos.

The search was aimed at gathering evidence to consolidate the ongoing investigation into the crimes of criminal association, qualified fraud, falsification or counterfeiting of documents, and money laundering, all of which are considered highly organized crimes. The investigation found that the defendants decided to develop a criminal scheme to obtain large amounts of illegitimate economic profit through the social mobility allowance, related to hundreds of non-existent trips, with a total value of undue reimbursements of more than half a million euros.

The plan involved recruiting residents of the Autonomous Region of Madeira, who were provided with previously forged documents necessary for withdrawing this subsidy, such as airline tickets, tickets and reservations, invoices and receipts, who, accompanied by members of the criminal network, presented forged documentation at CTT stations on the mainland and thus received the reimbursement paid by the State. The criminal association, now dismantled, showed high levels of organization, with different hierarchical levels consisting of forgers, recruiters/anglers, and controllers.
The ‘Rota do Viajante II’ operation involved investigators from the National Anti-Corruption Unit and the Madeira Criminal Investigation Department.

The defendants, now in custody, aged between 23 and 55, will be brought before the judicial authority at the criminal investigation court in Loures in due course for the application of coercive measures. One defendant is already in pre-trial detention as part of this case.

During the operation, it was possible to gather vast evidence related to the criminal practice under investigation, namely through the execution of around 40 witness interviews. The PJ, led by the Loures DIAP, will continue the investigation after analyzing the evidence gathered to fully determine all the criminal conduct.

Over the last five years, several police operations have been carried out to dismantle criminal networks dedicated to the fraudulent use of the social mobility allowance in the Autonomous Region of Madeira and the Autonomous Region of the Azores. The total value of fraud to the state coffers is more than six million euros.

The PJ praises the decisive role and collaboration of the Portuguese Air Force, whose support was crucial in safeguarding the integrity of the investigation, in the operational assembly of the human and logistical device, in the transportation of the detained defendants and the evidence seized, within the legal deadline for their presentation.

Story by journalist Miguel Fernandes Luís for the DN-Madeira newspaper

Translated to English as a community outreach program from the Portuguese Beyond Borders Institute (PBBI) and the Modern and Classical Languages and Cultures Department (MCLL) as part of Bruma Publication and ADMA (Azores-Diaspora Media Alliance)  at California State University, Fresno–PBBI thanks the sponsorship of the Luso-American Development Foundation from Lisbon, Portugal (FLAD)