A trio of men – all related and suspected of leading a criminal network that has scooped around half a million euros worth of cash and valuables in various violent robberies – is being hunted today after breaking out of a Porto courthouse.
Twins Emanuel and Fernando Santos, 35, and their nephew 19-year-old nephew Hugo Saraiva were all ‘remanded in custody’ by the city’s court of criminal instruction but purportedly asked police to let them first say goodbye to their girlfriends, reports Correio da Manhã.
Other news sources suggest they all asked to go to the lavatory.
Whatever the pretext, the men took advantage of their window of opportunity to find a way out.
People outside the courthouse are understood to have raised the alarm as they saw the men scrabbling out of an open window and jumping one-storey to freedom. But authorities inside were simply not quick enough to catch them.
It’s now a question of an ‘all points alert’.
The men’s photographs are being circulated this morning by various media and PSP sources, appealing for help from the public, have warned that the fugitives could be armed and are certainly dangerous.
The trio is charged with around 30 violent robberies that targeted elderly people in the areas of Porto, Valongo, Maia and Gondomar.
The victims of the men’s alleged attacks ranged in ages from 65-95, writes Público, stressing that if anyone knows where the men are, they should “immediately get in touch with police”.
