Lisbon, July 22, 2025 (Lusa) - The Lisbon Court of Appeal (TRL) has upheld the suspended sentence and fine for embezzlement imposed on 16 former customs officials who, for more than two years, stole goods from the lost property office at Lisbon airport.
Of the 10 official suspects who appealed the first instance decision, nine still had their sentences reduced by the judges on Monday.
According to the TRL ruling, dated June 26 and to which Lusa had access, 14 of the 16 current or former employees of the Tax and Customs Authority (AT) had, on July 13, 2023, been punished by the Lisbon Central Criminal Court with sentences of between one and five years in prison, suspended in their execution.
The remaining two former employees had been fined €1,000 and €1,200.
A 17th official suspect, the brother-in-law of one of the convicted employees, had been fined €1,400.
With the TRL’s decision, 12 of the 16 former customs officials at Humberto Delgado Airport in Lisbon were sentenced to suspended prison terms of between one year and four years and six months, and the remaining four to fines of between €900 and €1,200.
The 17th official suspect did not appeal the decision.
During the trial, it was proven that between April 1, 2018–June 1, 2020, the defendants appropriated computers, mobile phones, clothing, suitcases, perfumes, alcoholic beverages and tobacco forgotten or abandoned by passengers on aircraft and at Lisbon airport and, therefore, stored in the lost property office.
In addition to being used by themselves, the goods were given to family and friends, which led the defendants to nickname the lost property office as "the El Corte Inglés” (department store).
In its analysis of the appeals, the TRL did not question that hundreds of items had been misappropriated from the office, but considered that it had not been proven that all the items had been stolen between April 1, 2018–June 1, 2020.
This resulted in a reduction in the severity of the offences attributed to the defendants and, consequently, in most of the penalties imposed.
Two of the defendants were also convicted of possession of a prohibited weapon and embezzlement.
IB/AYLS // AYLS
Lusa
