After a concerted police hunt for Portugal’s “most wanted man” – covered by national media for 17 tense days – news sources reveal that the trail has gone cold.
Pedro Dias, 44, described at the outset as “heavily armed” and “extremely dangerous”, could be in Spain, France, North Africa. In fact, he could be anywhere.
But the truth is that judicial police leading the investigation “have has no credible leads for almost a week”, writes national tabloid Correio da Manhã.
Whether this is a new ruse to put Dias “at ease” while detectives close-in on his hideout will emerge in the coming days.
Certainly reports up to now suggest the man dubbed “Piloto” (due to his knowledge of flying small planes) has been breaking into random homes in northern districts and watching television – which would give him a good idea on where searches were underway.
A European Arrest Warrant is in place, and hopes are that if Dias has managed to leave the country, forces elsewhere may have better luck than those in Portugal.
Dias is the “principal suspect” in what has become known as the “bloodbath of Beira” (click here) which left two people dead – one of them a young GNR agent – a woman in a critical condition in hospital and another GNR agent miraculously surviving a shot to the head at close-range.
