FOUR OUT of five bank, petrol station and carjacking hold-ups are carried out by people using guns.
These were the startling statistics issued by the Coordinator of the Security Office, Gabinete de Segurança, Lionel Carvalho, who admitted that the use of firearms was a factor in 80 per cent of violent crimes.
Leonel Carvalho admitted that in the first half of 2008, violent crime had risen by 15 per cent in Portugal and confirmed that there had been “a significant increase in these types of crimes”.
On Thursday, the Minister of Internal Administration, Rui Pereira, announced changes in the Firearms Law, Lei das Armas, whereby those caught using firearms in crimes would be sent straight into police custody.
Rui Pereira said the objective of the alterations in the law were to avoid any loopholes or muddy interpretations of the Firearms Law.
According to statistics, 70 per cent of all violent crimes take place on a public highway or in a public place.
Pinto Monteiro, Procurator of the Republic, demanded alterations to the Portuguese Penal Code, Código Penal, so that police custody could be applied in more situations.
The Minister of Justice, Alberto Costa, said that until the middle of 2009 there was no more time or room to make corrections to the law alternations already made by
Rui Pereira.
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