Coimbra, Portugal, May 7, 2025 (Lusa) - The alleged organised criminal group detained on Tuesday is believed to have helped thousands of illegal immigrants with the help of a ‘mole’ in Portugal's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the director of the Judicial Police (PJ) in the centre region of the country revealed on Wednesday.
"We are talking about thousands of people. We have no doubt that many of them, with greater or lesser effort, would be able to regularise their situation, while others will have to have everything reviewed, certainly," said Avelino Lima.
According to the director of the Centre region Judicial Police (the country's main criminal investigation agency), the thousands of immigrants have come from “a Portuguese-speaking country in South America and Hindustan”.
The PJ announced on Wednesday that it had dismantled an alleged organised criminal group dedicated to the repeated crimes of aiding illegal immigration, corruption, money laundering and document forgery.
A total of 13 people were detained, seven men and six women, including seven businessmen, a lawyer and an employee of the Directorate-General for Consular Affairs and Portuguese Communities of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The detainees - seven Portuguese nationals and six foreigners - are aged between 26 and 64 and have no known criminal records.
At a press conference held late this morning in Coimbra, Avelino Lima explained that the immigrants were recruited by the group on social networks and were told of ‘opportunities and facilities’ in exchange for payment of ‘a significant sum’.
"Then there was a network that did all the work to enable these immigrants, once they arrived here, to legalise their status. Many of them never even set foot on national territory, but had residence permits, with repercussions in terms of taxation and social security, which is a worrying reality that is becoming increasingly serious," he said.
He told journalists that this organised group with ‘very clear tasks’ began operating in early 2022, with consultancy companies being set up for this purpose.
The services for which immigrants paid included obtaining work contracts, Tax Identification Numbers (NIF), Social Security Identification Numbers (NISS), National Health Service (SNS) Patient Numbers, translation and certification of criminal records, opening bank accounts, residence certificates, among others.
"Unfortunately, we had a mole in that ministry [of foreign affairs] and in that service, who ceased their activity yesterday [Tuesday]. They played a key role, because they ended up giving veracity to false facts," he added.
As part of this operation by the Centre region Judicial Police Directorate, which they called ‘Gambérria’, 40 house searches and non-house searches were carried out in Coimbra, Espinho, Carregal do Sal, Amadora, Odivelas, Loures and Lisbon.
A ‘huge’ collection of documentation used in the illegal legalisation of foreigners, computer equipment, 11 motor vehicles, some of them high-powered, around €1 million in cash and two ivory elephant tusks weighing around 50 kilos were seized.
Various items acquired with the proceeds of crime and items used in document forgery were also seized, including a fake stamp found in a company where thousands of criminal record certificates for foreign citizens were allegedly ‘validated’.
The Central Asset Recovery Office seized six properties, two rural buildings and four urban properties (a villa and three apartments) and froze 35 bank accounts, two financial products from the gambling company Betano and a Binance crypto asset account.
The investigation will continue and "it is very possible that there will be more detentions".
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