Sines, Setubal, Portugal, Sept. 12, 2025 (Lusa) - The Director-General of Portugal's national maritime authority (AMN), Vice-Admiral Nuno Chaves Ferreira, on Friday considered the introduction of new technologies using artificial intelligence (AI) to be an important aid in detecting and combating drug trafficking networks.
Portugal "is the first port of entry" for criminal networks from South and Central America and, in this regard, "the Maritime Police has taken action" and has "surveillance systems" in place, using "drones and foot patrols" to combat these activities, said the Director-General of the AMN and Commander-General of the Maritime Police.
"However, we can never guarantee that we can do this at 100%," added Vice Admiral Nuno Chaves Ferreira, speaking to the Lusa news agency on the sidelines of the seminar ‘Police Action at Sea - Challenges’, organised by the AMN in Sines, on the Alentejo coast in the region of Setúbal.
And to combat this type of crime, such as drug trafficking networks, which are increasingly sophisticated, or maritime piracy, the Vice-Admiral argued that the introduction of new technologies, using artificial intelligence, can help speed up procedures.
"The detection and identification of this type of network is the result of criminal investigation processes that take place over years or months" and result in "a set of data and information that has to be worked on," he explained.
And here, he continued, "new technologies come in, such as “Big Data Processing”, associated with artificial intelligence," which are an important aid in combating criminal networks.
"It allows us to identify where this type of action and attempts to introduce drugs into our territory are most likely to occur, and to track drug trafficking networks and suspicious vessels," assured the vice-admiral.
These tools, he added, can help the authorities to speed up "knowledge about these drug trafficking networks and all types of crime".
Speaking to Lusa, the director-general of the maritime authority said that "these crimes and actions against society have been increasingly recurrent," but that "the Maritime Police is fully aware."
"These are situations that endanger our communities, resulting from the risks of threats that are felt around the world in a very incisive way, and especially at sea, which is a space that all criminal networks use," he argued.
Asked about the Port of Sines, the commander-general of the national maritime authority said that, in addition to being strategic for the domestic economy, this port infrastructure has not been widely used for attempts to introduce narcotics.
However, this "does not mean that it cannot happen, and we can never rule out all possibilities," he admitted.
"Normally, these drug trafficking networks attempt to introduce narcotics on smaller ships, which then transfer to speedboats, which are more difficult to catch and detect," he said.
This, he continued, "does not mean that there may not be narcotics on board container ships and that they cannot be concealed, but as a rule, these ships do not call at Portuguese ports".
The seminar ‘Police Action at Sea - Challenges’ is being held as part of the celebrations of the 106th anniversary of the Maritime Police, which are taking place in the city of Sines until next Sunday, with a series of activities.
HYN/AYLS // AYLS
Lusa
