Crime | Man detained for car burglaries claims they were done for survival

A local resident in his thirties has been arrested by the Public Security Police Force (PSP) for allegedly burgling from motor vehicles in a parking lot located in the building where the suspect lives, the PSP informed during yesterday’s regular joint press conference of the local police forces.

The case came after four car owners made separate reports of theft and damage to their vehicles in the car park facility on December 11 and 12.

Following the complaints, the PSP reviewed footage from the parking lot surveillance cameras and found the same suspect present on at least two occasions. First, in the early hours of December 9, the police spotted him in the footage carrying two shoe boxes. On December 11, he was spotted carrying a semi-transparent bag containing a hammer.

On December 12, around 3:30 p.m., the PSP arrested him at his apartment located in the building.

While being questioned, the man admitted that between December 8 and 12 he had tried to enter several vehicles parked in the parking lot to take whatever he could that was worth money.

He said he had done so during a state of inebriation, meaning he was unable to remember some of the details or even from where he took some of the items found in his possession.

He justified the act due to a situation of long-term unemployment, saying that he was desperate to find a way to support himself.

In his possession, in addition to the materials used to break the glass of several vehicles, the police found about 300 patacas in coins, which he admitted to having taken from several vehicles, as well as two pairs of leather shoes valued at around 5,000 patacas that he took from another vehicle, along with some sunglasses.

He was also in the possession of a red wristwatch of which he says he does not remember the origin.

The case has been forwarded to the Public Prosecutions Office for the charging of the man on December 13. The PSP continues to investigate the case, as there are suspicions that more cars were involved.