Three British citizens selling time-shares have been arrested by Albufeira GNR after they shouted insults and behaved aggressively towards two police officers as they patrolled the Areias de S.João area.
According to a police spokesman, the officers arrested the three suspects for touting for business. They were taken to the GNR station, where one of the men, believed to be around 40 years of age, refused to identify himself and threw a chair at the policemen present. He then proceeded to insult the men.
His companions, believed to be from Manchester, and aged around 30, who had already behaved aggressively, also began insulting the officers and the situation eventually required five GNR officers, who handcuffed all three individuals. The detained were later taken to court.
Illegal time-share touting, mainly by British citizens, has been considered a real ‘pain in the neck’ by Albufeira’s local authorities for years. According to the Commander of Albufeira GNR’s Territorial Detachment, António Matias, “the sale of time-shares, although illegal, is common, and continues despite inspections,” He added: “In real terms, the companies involved don’t suffer any consequences due to loop-holes in the law that complicate their responsibility for the touts. Not only that, many of the sales people don’t have any documents linking them to the companies.”
