The seven detained in a PSP mega-operation in the metropolitan area of Lisbon in which six tons of hashish were seized will await the investigation in preventive detention, reveals the Attorney General’s Office, in a statement sent to newsrooms this Monday.
“After interrogation and in line with what was promoted by the Public Prosecutor’s Office, the criminal investigation judge decided to apply the coercive measure of preventive detention to all defendants”, it can be read. The seven defendants are charged with the crime of aggravated drug trafficking, criminal association and detention and use and possession of a prohibited weapon.
According to the PSP, “the Lisbon Metropolitan Command (COMETLIS), through the Criminal Investigation Division, developed, in recent days, an operation to combat drug trafficking in the Greater Lisbon area. During the operation, in addition to the seizure of several tons of hashish, several firearms, hundreds of thousands of euros in cash, speedboats and their engines and motor vehicles, it was possible to carry out the arrest of seven suspects (six Portuguese and one of foreign nationality).”
The operation led to one of the largest drug seizures in the area and took place without the knowledge of the Judiciary, according to says the Público newspaper. “The investigation was carried out by the PSP, over the last eight months, under the direction of the 1st Section of the Department of Investigation and Criminal Action of Lisbon”, explain the aforementioned police in a statement.
The defendants are “strongly accused of the facts” and “since at least April 2024, they have been part of an organization dedicated to the acquisition for subsequent sale of a large quantity of hashish in the Greater Lisbon area, for which they used, to store the narcotic product, facilities located in areas that facilitate its transport by water”, it is further explained.
Questioned on the sidelines of the inauguration of a police station in the municipality of Odivelas, the national director of the PSP, Luís Carrilho, praised the work of the agents who seized around six tons of drugs, mainly hashish, in a warehouse in Seixal, where two speedboats were also located. The drug would have come from North Africa.
“The final results of the operation” and the “provision of all clarifications” will be detailed on Tuesday morning, at a press conference.
Lawyers for four defendants claim innocence
Upon leaving court, lawyers for four of the seven defendants assured that their clients were innocent.
“My client is a mere fisherman. Let’s analyze the order [das medidas de coação] with some care and understand if there are grounds to appeal”, reacted, upon leaving the Central Criminal Instruction Court, lawyer Bruno Ferreira Telo, who represents one of the detainees.
The representative of two other defendants, Rui Carvalho, also said that he will appeal the application of preventive detention to his clients, whose involvement with trafficking he stated does not exist.
A lawyer representing a fourth detainee, Bárbara Carvalho, also assured that her client “is a family man, hard worker” and that “justice will be done with certainty”.
The investigation was opened in May 2025 at the Lisbon Department of Investigation and Criminal Action and is subject to judicial secrecy.