Drug gang rivalry appears to be behind the shooting in the heart of Lisbon yesterday of three men, aged between 29 and 43.
According to tabloid Correio da Manhã, two of the victims were ‘innocent bystanders’. One – the most seriously injured – is believed to be a member of the ‘Grupo de Chelas’ , a gang that “dominates the commerce of crack (cocaine solidified into crystals) from Mouraria to Chelas”.
With the jailing over a year ago of Samir (the Portuguese leader of Grupo de Chelas, for 19 years), the attack is interpreted as a struggle for dominance between another group muscling in on Grupo de Chelas’ territory.
To confuse matters further, the ‘other group’ used to be led by a man also serving time (20 years) behind bars.
In other words, both gangs would seemingly have new ‘head honchos’ at their top.
CM, and Expresso (which has also alluded to the ‘drug gang rivalry’ angle) are not giving any names.
For now, the official narrative is that the worst injured man is still ‘fighting for his life in hospital’.
The two others injured – but otherwise unconnected with the drug gangs – are both out of hospital and out of danger. They are described as ‘food delivery distributors’, and immigrants.
Reports however stress that the shooting has nothing to do with immigration, which has transformed areas like Martim Moniz in recent years. It is just that immigrant neighbourhoods and members of the criminal fraternity can end up sharing similar spaces.
The residents of Martim Moniz are described by CM as having been ‘terrified’ in the early hours of yesterday morning, due to the number of armed police and ambulances that attended the fall-out from the shooting.
Things have calmed considerably since then, but authorities are described as “attentive and fearing further attacks by way of retaliation in the coming days”.
This far, the assailants who fired from a passing car remain at large. Police admit, however, that they have identified at least one of them.
CM’s deputy editorial director Eduardo Dâmaso writes in a column today that this is yet another area where Luís Neves, the new Minister of Internal Administration and former Judicial police national director, needs to act.
Referring to the “explosion of drug trafficking in countries like Spain, France, Belgium and Sweden”, Dâmaso warns that “if politicians, police and magistrates don’t start to look at (incidents like) this, we won’t just have urban areas excluded from the exercise of sovereignty. We will have galloping corruption at the heart of the state itself. Just follow the geographical map of crime that plagues central and northern Europe. This is an urgent case for Luís Neves”.
Bengali community leader Rana Taslin Uddin has written over Facebook that Rua do Benformoso is blighted by “people dependent on drugs. On several occasions, African individuals involved (drugs) have launched confrontations and aggressions. Last year, a drug addict was murdered here (…) Many tourists come here to buy and consume drugs. Businesses and residents of the area have presented complaints about the situation. I myself have informed the parish council. The police know about the problem (…) We appeal to authorities to install 24-hour CCTV cameras throughout the area. We also ask for two police agents to be placed at both ends of this road between 10am and midnight every day, meaning there would be four agents on permanent patrol. This way businesses could operate with tranquility, residents could circulate in safety, trafficking networks will be reduced and public security reinforced.”
Source: Correio da Manhã/ Expresso/ Facebook
