In a statement, the Judicial Police (PJ) said that ‘Operation Flanders’, which took place as part of an investigation overseen by the Lisbon Department of Investigation and Criminal Prosecution (DIAP), led to the arrest of four men and five women, aged between 24 and 64, due to “strong evidence” of crimes of fraud, money laundering and forgery, which defrauded a foreigner of hundreds of thousands of euros.

According to the PJ, the investigation began in May 2024, after a national bank reported that a citizen residing in Angola and doing business in that country denied having ordered a series of banking transactions, carried out in person, at a branch in Lisbon.

The investigation led to the identification of a citizen residing in Belgium who, using a false Belgian identity document, pretended to be the victim.

The man was arrested in Belgium after a European arrest warrant was issued by Portugal, with the collaboration of the Belgian Federal Police, and the extradition of the suspect has already been requested, the PJ told Lusa.

“All those arrested, including a former bank employee, acted as co-authors in the various phases of the scheme, namely in the prior collection of the client’s banking information, in the recruitment of various individuals, in the forgery of the identification document used, and also in the execution of several subsequent and successive banking operations, designed to divide and conceal the benefits of the crime, and to distribute them among everyone”, the PJ said in a statement.

As part of the operation, 15 house searches were carried out, in which documents, computer and telecommunications equipment, high-end vehicles, other objects related to the crimes, as well as drugs and ammunition were seized.

The eight people arrested in Portugal will be presented for initial judicial questioning to apply coercive measures.