An armed gang of four hooded men brought terror to staff and customers of a Galp petrol station on the IC1 in S. Marcos da Serra, Silves, where they carried away a safe containing more than €10,000 and €700 from the cash till. The robbery happened on Monday at around midnight.
Two members of staff and three customers were threatened and forced to lie on the floor by the robbers who were armed with two pistols and a sawn-off shotgun.
They fled in a stolen car with their loot, and one mile further on abandoned the vehicle and set fire to it before making their getaway in another stolen vehicle.
The four men, who appeared to be young, spoke in Portuguese, one with a Brazilian accent, and had disconnected the video camera security system at the petrol station.
Some images were recorded, however, and are being examined by the PJ police.
