A 23-year-old man was accused of attempted espionage after stealing computer equipment associated with a NATO soldier and seeking to sell the information to the Russian embassy in Lisbon. According to Diário de Notícias, the accused is in pre-trial detention and was formally charged on February 12th.
The case dates back to last year and also involves other crimes, including aggravated theft, misuse of identification documents, false statements, child pornography, driving without a license and slanderous reporting. According to the same source, the case also includes two other defendants.
A conference at the center of the case
The events occurred at the time when the REP MUS 2025 Initial Planning Conference was being held at the Lisbon Naval Base School, in Alfeite, in Almada. The newspaper writes that the event took place between February 3 and 7, 2025 and brought together around 300 participants, most of them military personnel.
In a statement cited by the same source, the Attorney General’s Office indicated that it was the “largest exercise in the world dedicated to robotic experimentation of unmanned systems – REP (MUS), from the year 2025”.
Strategic hosting
Knowing that the conference was taking place, the accused decided to stay in the same hotel where NATO soldiers were staying. The same source mentions that the young man “made theft a way of life” and had chosen the location with the aim of appropriating goods.
At the hotel, he “appropriated a computer and an iPad” belonging to NATO and the Swedish Navy, allocated to a soldier from the organization. According to the same source, the equipment contained information that the defendant believed to be sensitive.
After taking possession of the devices, the young man tried to access the content and copy it. The PGR adds, cited by the newspaper, that the accused, “convinced that he had secret and classified materials in his possession, tried to access the respective content and copy it and intended to collaborate with the Russian Federation”.
With the data already in his possession, he went to the Russian embassy in Lisbon to try to sell the information. According to the same source, the attempt was unsuccessful.
Alternative version presented by the defendant
During the investigation, the young man expressed his willingness to collaborate with the authorities. The newspaper writes that it alleged the existence of a criminal organization dedicated to espionage and violating legal secrecy, which included 11 other people, including an inspector from the Judiciary Police.
However, the PGR clarified that “this factual version did not correspond to reality and was nothing more than a mere artifice used by the defendant with the aim of taking the focus of the investigation away from himself”.
Accusations and coercive measures
In addition to the attempted espionage, the defendant was accused of three crimes of aggravated theft, two crimes of using someone else’s identification or travel document, one crime of false declarations, one crime of pornography of minors, two crimes of driving without a license and eleven crimes of slanderous reporting.
According to , the young man is subject to preventive detention and a ban on contacts. The case also includes two other defendants, accused of qualified theft, who were subject to an identity and residence permit.
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