Armed raiders have returned to the A16 motorway outside Lisbon, weeks after an incident that left a father-of-two bleeding to death at a toll stop (click here).
The latest attack took place at São Pedro de Sintra just after nightfall on Sunday.
Two masked men – one carrying a shotgun – confronted a concession employee in charge of a toll payments’ cabin. They told the man they would kill him if he didn’t hand over “all the money” in his till.
The men had approached the cabin on foot after scaling a fence impeding access to the motorway.
They then made off with their haul towards scrubland as the shaken employee called police.
By the time GNR agents arrived, the raiders were nowhere to be seen, explains Correio das Manhã. But they reappeared six kilometres down the motorway half-an-hour later – coincidentally in an area under the jurisdiction of PSP police not GNR.
Here, they once again threatened a toll booth employee with death unless he handed over the contents of his till.
Again, the men disappeared on foot, though investigators believe they had a getaway car waiting somewhere in the scrubland on the other side of the fence – possibly driven by an accomplice.
PJ police are now investigating, while the gang that killed local businessman João Silva in February appears to have disappeared without trace.
