On its official website, the prosecutor’s office revealed that, by order dated August 8, the Public Ministry (MP) accused four suspects of committing, in co-authorship, 12 crimes of aggravated theft — five of which were attempted — six crimes of property damage, and one crime of robbery.
One of the defendants is also charged with driving without a legal license.
According to the accusation, these suspects, aged between 18 and 22 and awaiting trial in pre-trial detention, agreed among themselves in the early hours of November 22, 2023, to appropriate “as much as possible” of objects and money they could obtain and vandalize cars and commercial stores in the city of Porto, “even resorting to physical aggression.”
In this way, in various locations in Porto, especially in the Foz area, the defendants seized goods and money from inside two commercial establishments and several automobiles, in addition to damaging them using a hammer, the prosecutor’s office emphasizes.
Also during that early morning, the suspects went to the residence of the current FC Porto president, André Villas-Boas, who at the time of the events was a candidate for the leadership of the ‘dragons’, and assaulted the condominium caretaker, took his belongings and his vehicle, which they used to commit part of the thefts, describes the Regional Prosecutor General’s Office of Porto.
“The Public Ministry requested the conviction of the defendants to pay the State the advantages of criminal activity, without prejudice to the rights of the victims to be compensated for the damages suffered,” it concludes.
As part of Operation ‘Zelador’, which began in November 2023, the PSP seized an automobile, a motorcycle, various mobile phones, clothing items, equipment, and tools.
