Armed Robbers, Carjackers Gain in Portugal as Economy Weakens

By Anabela Reis and Jim Silver

Sept. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Teresa Paiva says she assumed the man with the gun in her local bank was a security guard.

Seconds after entering the Banco Espirito Santo SA branch in central Lisbon on Aug. 7, the 62-year-old neurologist became one of six hostages taken by two armed robbers. The raid ended when police stormed the building and shot the men, one fatally.

``When you walk into a bank you don't think you're going to become a crime victim,'' said Paiva. ``The nature of crime is clearly changing, and it's becoming more violent.''

Portugal had 100 bank holdups in the first six months of this year, according to business newspapers Diario Economico and Jornal de Negocios. There were 108 during all of 2007, Interior Ministry figures show. Carjackings were up more than 50 percent in the first half, the ministry said.

Attorney-General Fernando Pinto Monteiro said Aug. 26 police will create new units to fight the crime spree, which some law enforcement officials say reflects the deteriorating economy.

``The economic crisis, with the increase in poverty, greater difficulty in making ends meet, leads many people to engage in crime who wouldn't otherwise,'' said Pedro do Carmo, assistant director of the Judicial Police, Portugal's equivalent to the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the U.S.

Per-capita income is about 27 percent below the European Union average, making Portugal the poorest of the 15 EU members before former communist countries joined. The Bank of Portugal in July cut its forecast for economic growth this year to 1.2 percent, less than the January forecast of 2 percent. Unemployment stands at 7.3 percent.

`Organized, Growing'

Crimes in August included jewelry-store raids, one leading to the killing of a shop owner, and a gang blasting open an armored car carrying cash.

``Violent crime is organized and growing,'' said Angelo Correia, a former interior minister and a member of the Social Democrats, the biggest opposition party. The image of a safe country is outdated, he said. ``It was safe. Not anymore.''

In 2004, the latest survey by Gallup Europe, Portugal ranked third-lowest among 18 European Union countries in terms of the percentage of people who were crime victims that year.

Correia, 63, said he can't remember a worse spate of crime in Portugal. His party on Aug. 22 demanded the resignation of Interior Minister Rui Pereira, who said he won't step down.

During an attempted robbery at the Ourivesaria Ribeiro jewelry store in central Lisbon on Aug. 27, two men were kept talking by workers until police arrived.

``It was like a scene from a movie,'' said Joao Costa, 40, who works at the store. ``We don't want to be heroes, sometimes it's worse. Others may come later and become more violent because we are seen as being tough.''

More Cops

Pereira, a member of the Socialist government, told national television Aug. 22 he plans to hire 2,000 more police officers through next year and double investment in security, including police stations, cars, weapons, computer and communications systems, by 2012.

Police last year were criticized by the media at home and in the U.K. for their handling of the case of missing British girl Madeleine McCann, who was 3 years old when she disappeared in May 2007 while on vacation with her family in the Algarve region.

Officers in July this year closed the inquiry, saying there was no proof that a crime had been committed by any of the three people who had been named as suspects.

``This year, we have seen a rise in crime, mainly in the summer,'' said Jose Eduardo Garcia Leandro, a retired general who heads the Safety and Organized Crime Observatory, based at Lisbon's New University. ``It's still early to say statistically that there's a significant increase.''

Using Explosives

In the armored car heist on Aug. 20, robbers in three cars forced the truck to stop about 2:30 a.m. on a rural stretch of highway, according to accounts in national newspapers Correio da Manha and Diario de Noticias.

They shot out the tires, forced guards to stay in their seats and used C-4 plastic explosives, available in Portugal only to the military and police, to blow open the rear door.

During the attempted raid on the Banco Espirito Santo branch in Lisbon's Campolide district, Paiva said she fled with three other customers when the robbers had gone with bank employees to open the safe.

The two workers were held for eight hours before police moved to end the siege, according to newspaper reports. A sniper shot one man dead before officers entered the bank.

According to a table in Jornal de Negocios, the 100 holdups in the first half affected 13 different banks. Correio da Manha reported half of the crimes were in the Lisbon area.

``No one ever thinks something like that is going to happen to them,'' said Paiva. ``This has got to stop.''

To contact the reporters on this story: Anabela Reis in Lisbon at areis1@bloomberg.netJim Silver in Lisbon at jsilver@bloomberg.net