42-year-old driver sustained catastrophic injuries
Portugal’s PJ criminal investigation police have honed in on the group of hooded men who threw molotov cocktails into a bus, one them purposely into the lap of the driver.
42-year-old driver Tiago Cacais ended up becoming known as the worst-injured victim of the riots that followed the PSP police shooting of Odair Moniz, in Amadora, last month.
At the time, the hooded group dispersed quickly leaving the bus to burn furiously.Â
Tiago Cacais managed to escape the conflagration, with his clothes on fire. He spent weeks in hospital, at the outset, in a life-threatening condition. As far as early reports went, no one seemed to know the identities of his attackers.
Today, PJ police show they have âseveral suspectsâ lined up. The force served a number of search warrants in the municipality of Loures (Greater Lisbon district) this morning, albeit there has been no news of any arrests.
An official source explains the suspects will now be âheardâ, stressing that attempted murder is still on the docket.
The various suspects are believed to have taken part in the direct attack on the last night bus coming to the end of its journey in Santo AntĂłnio de Cavaleiros, in Loures, three nights after Odair Moniz was shot in Cova da Moura.
The Carris Metropolitana bus was not carrying any passengers, but the driver, who was still inside, suffered “serious burns to the face, chest and upper limbs”, said the PSP at the time.
Later, the horrific extent of Tiago Cacaisâ injuries were given further explanation.
Ms Gouveia recently posted on social network ‘X’ that Tiago has been discharged from hospital, and is âsurrounded by loveâ back home with his family.
This morning she posted: âExcellent work by the PJâ while other commentators have been saying that this âmegaoperationâ shows that criminals will not be allowed to get away with heinous acts, however long it takes to track them down and bring them to justice.
natasha.donn@portugalresident.com
