In a story that has the whiff of an action film, the French policeman caught in Ílhavo this summer driving a Maserati on false plates has finally been extradited to face multiple charges back home.
31-year-old Micael Fernandes was arrested in July after local police had tried to stop him in the black roadster he was driving on a number of occasions.
In the end, it took to one agent resorting to pulling out his gun and shooting in the air before the dual French-Portuguese driver relented.
In his possession, police found “several false identities, dozens of car keys, mobile phones and a prohibited weapon”, reports Correio da Manhã.
Fernandes then revealed a complicated background story, explaining that he was a policeman under suspension for having beaten up a man who later died.
Because there was no international warrant for his arrest, and due to his Portuguese nationality, tabloid Correio da Manhã claimed Portuguese judicial hands were tied.
And then there was another ‘problem’: says the paper, “aside from being a policeman, the Luso-Frenchman dealt in top-of-the-range cars and is wanted by French tax authorities over a debt of one million euros”.
This week, Portugal’s part in the drama finally concluded. Fernandes was extradited back to France where he will “have to answer before French authorities”, says CM.
