According to the PSP, during “Operation Hermes”, carried out by its Foreigners and Borders Control Unit (DCEF), three arrests were made for illegal immigration, one for failure to comply with the Notification of Voluntary Abandonment and 13 notifications to appear at the public services of AIMA – Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum.

“Operation Hermes” consisted of “several inspection and verification operations of the legal residence in national territory of foreign citizens, as well as all activity related to the employment of migrant citizens in Portugal”.

This operation, at a national level, also aimed to detect criminal offences related to illegal immigration and human trafficking, as well as detect evidence of related crimes, such as document forgery.

As part of this police operation, 44 operations were carried out, of which 32 were mobile operations on public roads, five at bus terminals, five at restaurants, one at a commercial establishment and another at a construction site.

In parallel with these operations, 27 precautionary measures were detected at international airports targeting foreign citizens and seven were refused entry due to them not meeting the conditions for access to the country.

In a statement, the PSP states that it will “remain committed to increasing border control in order to guarantee airport security and prevent possible illegal activities related to illegal immigration and human trafficking”.