Station aims at making fight against drug crime “more efficient and effective”
Portugal’s PSP force has created the first police station in Lisbon specialising in the investigation of crimes related to drug trafficking, with the aim of making the fight “more efficient and effective.”
The new station, which will be working as a pilot project, is based in the headquarters of the Criminal Investigation Division (DIC) in Lisbon’s Alto do Duque Fort, and is the result of a restructuring of the DIC in the field of investigating trafficking.
What this means is that drugs squads from various police stations have now been ‘concentrated’ in a specialised force
In a statement, the PSP’s Lisbon Metropolitan Command (Cometlis) described drug trafficking as “a scourge that urgently needs to be combated” and “is a priority within the European Union.”
According to Cometlis, Europol estimates that around half of the most dangerous criminal networks operating in Europe are involved in drug trafficking – 36% exclusively, with another 18% linked to other illegal activities.
The metropolitan command also reports on the European Union’s annual report on drugs – which shows a significant increase in drug production in Europe, mainly in terms of synthetic drugs and cocaine, as well as an increase in the purity and availability of drugs, a significant increase in cannabis use among young people and an increase in drug-related homicides and violence.
“It is in this context that the reorganisation of drug trafficking investigations in the city of Lisbon has come about, in a completely innovative way, both structurally and strategically, which will have a single command and a well-defined vision,” stresses the PSP.
Source: LUSA
