Ten of the 17 people arrested earlier this week over suspicions of immigrant slavery in the Alentejo have been released from police detention.
The remaining seven, including one GNR and one PSP agent, will have to wait until tomorrow to hear whether they too will be given bail.
As reports explain, all 17 arrested on Tuesday are suspected of being part of a criminal group that ‘enslaved illegal immigrants’. The police agents particularly (of which there are 11 in total) are believed to have acted as ‘prison guards’, watching over the immigrants to ensure that they worked from sunrise to sunset, weekdays and weekends.
According to SIC, officers detained are “suspected of having received €200 during the week and €400 at weekends for controlling and watching hundreds of immigrants.
“The majority of those involved did not want to make declarations because they understand that silence is more favourable at this stage of the process”, SIC adds.
The police are largely stationed in Beja, although some were transferred to other areas of the country during the course of this investigation. As Expresso explains, the agents are all suspected of having ‘facilitated the action’ of this violent, criminal group that took advantage of the vulnerability of the immigrants, many of whom are/ were in an ‘irregular situation’ in this country.
Source: SIC Notícias
