Gang member arrested

A Brazilian man, 29, said to be part of a gang that carried out violent robberies in the Algarve including at a luxury villa in the Albufeira area occupied by a lawyer and a teacher, has been re-arrested at Lisbon Airport as he was about to flee the country. He had been placed under house arrest after he was detained for robbing a gold and jewellery shop in São Bartolomeu de Messines but evaded daily checks by police and tried to make his getaway by plane to Brazil. He is one of at least four men who carried out various assaults in the Algarve with sawn-off shotguns and pistols, often forcing their victims to reveal pin codes for bank cards they stole.