Preliminary crime statistics published by Dire��o-Geral da Pol�tica de Justica on 28th March show that there were 23,060 recorded crimes in the Algarve in 2013, a decrease of 9.3% compared with the 2012. This is the lowest record since 2001 and is the 5th successive year that crime has decreased in the region.

The national report indicates that in Portugal as a whole there were 376,336 crimes recorded by all law enforcement agencies a decrease of 6.9% compared with 2012. Violent crime decreased by a significant 9.5% to 20,147 cases. Decreases in crime were reported in all regions in Portugal except in Vilana do Castelo in the extreme north where there was a small increase of 2.5%.

In the Algarve crime decreased in 11 of the 16 municipalities the exceptions being Vila do Bispo, Monchique, Lagos, Alcoutim and Olh�o where there were slight increases. The biggest decrease in crime was in Vila Real de Santo Antonio down 25% This was followed by Silves down by 22% to 1832 cases; Albufeira down 12.8 at 3420 cases and Loul� where crime decreased by 11.8% to 3791 cases. 

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It was reported on 27th March that the Judicial Police, through the Department of Criminal Investigation of Set�bal, with the collaboration of the Tax Authority and the  GNR Special Operations Group, conducted a joint operation in the districts of Lisbon and Set�bal, which resulted in the arrest of four men and three women, suspected of practicing qualified tax fraud, corruption, money laundering and receiving crimes.

The investigation, which has been ongoing for over a year, was aimed at neutralizing the activities of this group whose activities was causing serious damage to the national economy.

During the operation over 70 kgs of gold, 150 kgs of silver, approximately € 1 million in cash, several dozens of diamonds, five cars, a boat and two motorcycles, as well as innumerable documents were seized.

Part of precious materials seized were the result of the commission of crimes against property, as well as unreported transactions performed by individuals. Detainees will appear in court at the first application for judicial interrogation.

Comment

According to Gold Price.org the value of the gold seized is approximately € 2.1 million and the silver is worth approx € 70,000

Also doing its rounds is an email from [email protected] which is entitled "Your account has been limited Paypal Case no....."

The first thing to note here is that the email address with the incorrect spelling of "PayPal". Secondly it is addressed to "Dear Customer" rather than individual email addresses. The email is aimed at persuading you to open an attachment but by doing this it introduces "Malware" to your computer - probably a Trojan Horse. So on no account open the attachment or pass the email onto others. Simply delete it and also delete from your "Deleted files" box. The email reads

Dear customer ,

As part of our efforts to provide a safe and secure environment for the online community, we regularly screen account activity. Our review of your account has identified an issue regarding its safe use. We have placed a restriction on your account as a precaution.

To lift the restriction we will require some further information from you.

If, once we review your further information and we're confident that the use of your account does not present a safety risk to our service and customers, we'll be happy to reinstate your account.

We have sent you an attachment which contains all the necessary steps in order to restore your account access. Download and open it in your browser. After we have gathered the necessary information, you will regain full access to your account. Please make sure you enter the information accurately, and according to the formats required. Fill in all the required fields.

We thank you for your prompt attention to this matter"

On 7th March Lilia Martins (an Advisor to SCA) and I had a very useful meeting with the Deputy Commander of the ANPC (Civil Protection Agency) in Faro which covers the Algarve.

During the meeting we discussed ways in which SCA could support the work of the ANPC, particularly in forest fire prevention and also the holding of a number of joint events during the year.

It has been reported in Lisbon that criminals have adopted a new method of gain access to properties by poring water under the door of the property. The unsuspecting occupant then opens the door only to be confronted by the criminal who enters their home, committing theft.

According to reports about 50 cases have been reported to the PSP police in the Lisbon area; PSP Antas registered 22 cases and 73 cases have been reported to the GNR in Senhora da Hora, S. Mamede Infesta and Rio Tinto / Gondomar.

Safe Communities Algarve has enquired with police here in the Algarve but no reports have been received in the region. This is something to look out for though.

Twenty percent of Greeks and Italians report being asked to pay a bribe to public servants.

 
The countries worst hit by the European economic crisis have recorded larger decreases in trust in political institutions in recent years, with public perceptions of corruption above 90 percent, according to a report commissioned by the UK's Committee on Standards in Public Life.

The highest levels of concern were in Greece - where 99 percent said corruption was a major problem - followed by Portugal, Italy, Spain and Ireland.

The research, which was based on data from the European Values Survey (EVS), the European Social Survey (ESS) and Eurobarometer, was commissioned following a sharp downturn in public trust in UK institutions caused in part by a parliamentary expenses scandal in 2009.

In a statement accompanying the report, Lord Paul Bew, the chairman of the Committee, said the survey was an attempt to measure whether declining public trust in the UK was "a unique national trend or part of a broader change in public attitudes across Western democracies".

In Greece and Italy, where corruption was most frequently reported, almost 20 percent of respondents reported being asked or expected to pay a bribe during the previous 12 months.

UK nationals were the least likely to report having been asked or expected to pay a bribe, with just one percent telling the regular Eurobarometer survey that this had happened in 2013.

Meanwhile, despite an increase in the number of Danish respondents who believed corruption was widespread in their national and local institutions between 2011 and 2013, Denmark was the only case where the majority of respondents did not believe there to be corruption in either national or local public institutions.

National parliaments tended to be the lowest rated institution in European nations among citizens, lagging well behind the police and judicial system in almost all countries surveyed.

Citizens across Europe also believe that there is insufficient transparency in and supervision of the financing of political parties.  

The make the newsletter a little shorter we are now including just the title of the arrests and with a link to the website where the full report can be read

Safe Communities Algarve is a non-profit association run by unpaid volunteers. Our services are free of charge and the association is funded by donations. Your generosity by making a donation to help maintain and further develop the work of the association and thereby help keep the Algarve a safe place to live and visit would be appreciated. Any amount helps. 

Europol and the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) have issued early-warning notifications about two synthetic drugs that have recently been linked to serious health in the EU.

The first concerns a new psychoactive substance associated with 18 deaths in the United Kingdom and eight in Hungary in 2013. 4,4'-DMAR - the para-methyl derivative of 4-methylaminorex - is not currently controlled by drug legislation in EU Member States and has been found in Denmark, Finland, Hungary, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom since it was first detected in 2012.

The use of other drugs in combination with 4,4'-DMAR appears to have been a factor in most of the fatalities recorded. A range of adverse effects associated with 4,4'-DMAR have been reported, including agitation, hyperthermia, foaming at the mouth, breathing problems and cardiac arrest. 

Drug Markets Report (3), Belgium and the Netherlands remain centres for synthetic drugs production in the EU and are also among those Member States most affected by the recent resurgence in MDMA availability. Read more

Europol has warned EU law enforcement authorities about the kidnapping of irregular migrants and the subsequent extortion of their relatives or friends who are residing in Europe.

In the cases known to law enforcement, ransoms extorted from the European contacts have ranged from EUR 4400 to EUR 25 700. In most cases, the extortion processes involved multiple negotiation steps and sequential increases in the ransom amount. Payments were made to multiple cash handlers used by organised criminal groups in locations inside and outside of Europe.

Based on data provided by national law enforcement authorities it is clear that individuals of Eritrean origin living in Sweden and at least two other European countries have been subject to extortion as relatives for Eritrean kidnapping victims held hostage and exposed to torture in the Sinai Peninsula. The extortion operations were run by organised crime groups (OCGs) of Bedouin origin exploiting irregular migrants who had been kidnapped in Eritrea and Sudan by OCGs of Rashaida origin.

In some cases, hostages have been provided with phones to call their European contacts and request payment for their release. In other cases, the relatives have been extorted by cash handlers that are based in Europe and working for Bedouin criminal groups operating in the Sinai Peninsula. For instance, a victim's friend located in Sweden was contacted by two Swedish-speaking suspects on local mobile phone numbers demanding EUR 24 000 for a victim being held in the Sinai. Threatening that non-compliance would result in the victim's death and sale of the victim's organs, the suspects attempted to arrange face-to-face meetings in Sweden for the handover of ransom payments. Subsequently, the relative was sent regular threat messages via SMS and presented with a shortened deadline. In this case, the victim was killed and the transaction was not completed.

While the dark figure for the extortion of the European contacts of hostages in the Sinai may be considerably higher, the number of cases recorded by law enforcement authorities is low. Increased public awareness may encourage affected individuals to come forward and report these incidents of extortion.

David Thomas

President
Associa��o Safe Communities Algarve

2 April 2014