A police source explained that “around 500 foreign workers, though not all necessarily victims of trafficking, were under the control of this criminal organization”.
The alleged crimes under investigation date from 2023 to the present. As part of the police operation conducted on Tuesday, victims are being questioned in advance of legal proceedings at Beja Air Base No. 11 (BA11), it was indicated.
“Throughout these years, other victims have also been heard”, the source added.
On Tuesday, the PJ announced in a statement that it had conducted the “Safra Justa” operation, which dismantled a criminal organization aiding illegal immigration, controlling hundreds of foreign workers, mostly in irregular situations in Portugal.
In total, 17 people were detained, including 11 members of security forces – 10 GNR military officers and one PSP officer – along with six civilians, aged between 26 and 60 years.
Ten members of the National Republican Guard and one Public Security Police officer were detained on Tuesday for allegedly exploiting and enslaving immigrants, most of whom were in irregular situations.
Carolina Pereira Soares | 09:20 – 25/11/2025
The detainees will begin appearing today from 2 p.m. at the Central Criminal Investigation Court (TCIC) in Lisbon for a preliminary judicial inquiry and the application of respective coercive measures, the police source revealed.
The facts investigated, according to the Public Prosecutor’s Office (MP) and the PJ, could involve crimes of aiding illegal immigration, human trafficking, active and passive corruption, abuse of power, forgery, tax fraud, and money laundering.
The 10 GNR soldiers detained at the time of the alleged crimes belonged to the Beja Territorial Command of the GNR, while the PSP officer from the Beja District Police Command, had been on leave since September 2024, was revealed on Tuesday.
Regarding the six civilians, the police source specified that four are Portuguese and two are foreigners, “all members of the criminal organization”.
“The two foreigners are from the Indian subcontinent and were recruiting victims of the same origin, eventually coercing and threatening them”, it was explained.
Among the Portuguese, it was continued, “the leader” of the network was found, who was “arrested in the public space in Beja at 5 a.m. on Tuesday”, while the others were “his right-hand men”.
The operation was carried out by the PJ’s National Unit Against Terrorism (UNCT), under the auspices of an investigation led by the Central Department of Investigation and Penal Action (DCIAP).
A total of approximately 50 search warrants and 17 arrest warrants were executed, not only in Beja but also in Portalegre, Figueira da Foz, and Porto.
The MP argued that the suspects took advantage of “the fragile situation (documentary, social, and economic) of citizens originating from third countries, mostly undocumented, to gain significant economic advantages”.
The immigrants “were willing to work without formal contracts” and received “wages below the market rate for their duties”, particularly in agriculture.
“The suspects did not hand over the promised amounts, instead arbitrarily imposing deductions for accommodation, transport, water, electricity, and documentation expenses”, it was emphasized.
The suspected security forces members, according to the MP, monitored and watched over the foreign workers “in exchange for financial compensation” and “further threatened these individuals, suggesting that complaining to the authorities was not a viable option to address the abuses” they were subjected to.
[Updated at 11:50 a.m.]
