Almost two weeks now since the last sighting of Vale de Lobo restaurant manager, Ricardo Claro, the sequence of events that followed his abduction on March 13 has become clearer – but there is still no sign of the 50-year-old – and the suspect in police custody may well not be telling ‘the whole truth’.
Tabloid Correio da Manhã today suggests this is one of the reasons why the judge of criminal instruction hearing details this far has decided to remand ‘Rogério’, 39, in police custody.
The former worker at the Well restaurant that Claro managed claims ‘only’ to have passed information to the two men he claims abducted Claro, in exchange for possession of Claro’s Peugeot 2008 car.
Rogério “refuses responsibility for the disappearance” of his former ‘very close friend’ (he has admitted an ‘amorous relationship’) and denies taking part in the kidnap and/ or the extortion that followed.
Investigators have ascertained that Rogério, although holding Portuguese nationality, was actually born in Brazil – Brazil being the native country of the two other suspects who are believed to have taken flights out of Madrid and Lisbon, respectively, very soon after the kidnapping. They are thought to have ‘returned to their homeland’ (which conveniently does not have an extradition agreement with Portugal).
The niggle with details proffered this far is that Rogério is ‘blameless’ beyond having passed information. Other news sources for example suggest he is “a central element in the case”, having been described by investigators as “the brains behind the kidnapping and the robbery”.
This will be another reason why ‘Rogério’ remains behind bars. The ‘flight risk’ he poses could mean that he would try to make his way to Brazil, as well – and no one on the case wants that.
But if Rogério is such a central element, he should know what happened to his former close friend: so far, he appears not to be saying anything (and claiming to know nothing).
As to the robbery, this extended way beyond the use of the missing man’s bank card/s (some of which were found being used in Lisbon shopping malls). By dint of his job, Claro had access to the codes of the restaurant’s safe, from which several thousand euros are believed to have gone missing.
This far, no news outlet has given a total, in financial terms, as to what appears to have been stolen.
Meantime, friends and family of missing Ricardo Claro have been doing everything they can think of to try and find him. According to CM, they have been using drones to search isolated areas/ ruins etc., keeping up hopes that he will be found alive.
“The disappearance of Ricardo Claro has generated a wave of consternation among the Algarvian population”, says CM.
Sources: Correio da Manhã/ Postal.pt
