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The leader of the gang, who is from Ermesinde, was identified due to DNA left on a cigarette butt found in the home of the attacked couple, who were tortured for hours.
The Judiciary Police (PJ) arrested a man suspected of leading a group responsible for a violent robbery that occurred in August 2025in the Azambuja area. The target of the robbery was a couple in their sixties who were kidnapped, attacked and tortured for several hours to deliver money and gold.
According to the , the suspect is a resident of Ermesinde and was identified through traces of DNA collected from a cigarette butt left at one of the crime scenes. The suspect is in pre-trial detention.
The attack occurred in the early evening, when Ana Maria and her husband, Vítor, were returning home. According to the investigation, seven men invaded the residence armed with sticks, baseball bats and other improvised weapons, demanding money and valuables. The couple was quickly dominated, tied up and violently attacked.
According to reports collected by the authorities, the robbers were dissatisfied with the approximately R$600 and some gold pieces initially found in the house. From then on, the violence intensified. The victims were allegedly beaten repeatedly, threatened with death and subjected to acts of torture. One of the attackers used a hammer to hit the couple’s hands and feet, while another poured a scorching liquid over the victims’ bodies, causing serious burns.
At various times, the victims will have lost consciousnessbeing woken up by a blow. The attackers even pulled out the man’s nails with pliers, in an attempt to obtain more information about hidden money. Under threat of death, the woman revealed that there were 15 thousand euros stored in another residencein Olivais, in Lisbon.
The couple was then placed in their own car and transported under surveillance by other vehicles used by the group. In the Olivais home, the robbers managed to seize the money in cash before destroying the victims’ cell phones and abandoning the couple on a road in the Alenquer region.
The victims were found the following morning and transported to the hospital. Ana Maria recovered more quickly, but her husband remained hospitalized for almost a month due to the severity of his injuries.
The PJ investigation made it possible to identify the alleged leader of the group months after the crime. A son of the suspect was also indicted, after being associated with the sale of stolen gold in a goldsmith shop in Maia. Authorities are now continuing to try to locate the other elements involved in the robbery.
