The National Republican Guard carried out a large-scale operation in Madeira that culminated in the arrest of at least two people.
The operation carried out by the GNR in various places on the island will have relied on means and operatives from the mainland.
In a later statement, media outlets were informed that the operation involved 115 GNR soldiers, from the Territorial Command of Madeira and several units on the mainland, including Porto, Coimbra, the Fiscal Action Unit, the Coastal Control Unit, and the Emergency, Protection and Relief Unit.
The National Republican Guard (GNR) carried out, yesterday, a large-scale operation in the Autonomous Region of Madeira, as part of the fight against illegal gambling, from physical to online gambling, including tax fraud.
According to Major Tiago Felizardo, the action targeted three types of crimes: exploitation of illegal online gambling, exploitation of physical illegal gambling, and tax fraud.
Seven domestic search warrants and 30 non-home search warrants were carried out, mainly in commercial establishments, covering all municipalities of Madeira and Porto Santo.
The Major revealed that the investigation has been going on for about a year, although the process is older. The GNR had already seized some illegal machines, but this operation allowed a highly organized structure to be dismantled.
Of those detained. The two arrested are suspected of masterminding the operation. One is a manager and the second, a computer support technician responsible for the illegal applications. In addition, 25 individuals were made defendants, mainly for the possession and use of illegal machines.
The seized machines had different disguises and functionalities, “some pretending to be chocolate vending machines, but through a PIN code, they were transformed into gaming devices, such as roulette or other modalities.”
The owners of the establishments where these machines were installed were also made defendants.
The machines were generally accessible to the public, but their availability varied according to the schedules and methods of operation of each establishment.
Despite the collection of evidence and the seizures carried out, the investigation continues, with 30 more establishments planned for inspection. This is, according to the GNR, the first operation of this dimension carried out in Madeira in the fight against illegal gambling.
Samantha Gannon
info at madeira-weekly.com