A 48-year-old man and a 26-year-old woman were arrested on November 8, with around 9.4 kilos of hashish in their possession, in Ponta Delgada, São Miguel Island, Azores.
Speaking at the headquarters of the Ponta Delgada Criminal Investigation Department of the Judicial Police (PJ), Coordinator Renato Furtado said that the drug substance seized would be enough to prepare around 47,000 doses.
According to Coordinator Renato Furtado, the individuals who transported the drugs had no criminal record for this type of crime and explained the origin of the drugs seized.
“It comes directly from the mainland. The supply to the Autonomous Region of the Azores is mainly from the mainland. It doesn’t come directly from the producers. It’s mainly produced in Morocco and then spread to Europe, but the supply here in the Azores comes directly from organizations with other counterparts, especially in the Lisbon area,” he said.
The arrests were the result of a police operation in the city of Ponta Delgada, which was supported by the National Republican Guard (GNR).
The detainees were presented for questioning at the Ponta Delgada District Court and were remanded in custody at the Ponta Delgada prison.


More than three kilos of drugs seized in Terceira
Also, according to Coordinator Renato Furtado, the PJ, through the Azores Criminal Investigation Department, arrested a 36-year-old man on November 12 on the island of Terceira who had three kilos of hashish and 250 grams of cocaine.
The substances seized in the city of Praia da Vitória, on Terceira island, were enough for 14,700 individual doses of hashish and 2,500 of cocaine.


22 kilos of hashish seized in November in the Azores
Coordinator Renato Furtado also says November has been a month with “some relevant results.”
“In fact, November has been a month with some relevant results. In addition to others that we don’t report, these are the ones we consider most relevant in the fight against drug trafficking in the region: four operations, six arrests (5 men and 1 woman), approximately 22 kilos of hashish seized, one kilo of cocaine, half a kilo of opioid substance. So it’s been a month with significant results in the fight we have to wage,” explained our interlocutor.
Remember that at the beginning of the month, on November 7, 11 kilos of drugs were seized (9.6 kilos of hashish, 567 grams of cocaine, and 445 grams of codeine or MDMA), which resulted in the detainee being remanded in custody.

In Correio dos Açores–Natalino Viveiros, director

Translated to English as a community outreach program from the Portuguese Beyond Borders Institute (PBBI) and the Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures Department (MCLL) as part of Bruma Publication and ADMA (Azores-Diaspora Media Alliance) at California State University, Fresno, PBBI thanks Luso Financial for sponsoring NOVIDADE.