Owner of ‘drugs trailer’ caught up in Interior Minister controversy seeks to have evidence thrown out – Portugal Resident

Público today is running with an exclusive to say that the lawyer acting for the owner of the drugs trailer caught up in the ongoing controversy surrounding Interior Minister Luís Neves is now seeking to have the evidence against his client thrown out.

As the paper explains, the trailer should have remained in the custody of the PJ judicial police (of which, at the time, Neves was national director). But because its initial storage at a maritime police yard in Seixal was a problem, it was moved (allegedly without the necessary paper trail), to the builders’ yard of Construbarcelos – the company owned by the building contractor, a personal friend of Neves, who has done work both for the PJ and for Neves privately. By moving the trailer, it was clearly no longer ‘in the custody of the PJ’, and thus any lawyer worth his or her salt would argue that the evidence (in this case, the contents of the trailer – ‘acetone, intended for use in drug production’) had not been correctly preserved. 

Reports early on in this convoluted story warned that this is exactly what could happen.

According to Público, lawyer João Martins Leitão has said he has never come upon such a break with standard procedure in all his years in practice.

“Several pieces of evidence related to the drug trailer seized by the PJ in December, 2024, during Operation Pacoba, could now be invalidated,” SIC Notícias picks up on the Público exclusive.

And thus Luís Neves has yet another extremely difficult situation on his plate, as allegations continue to pile in – one of the latest being that Neves did not correctly declare his income and assets during his years at the helm of the PJ.

This terrible imbroglio, ostensibly kick-started by an unlicensed tourist accommodation project within protected land in the municipality of Odemira, has generated endless television and radio commentaries and discussions, not to mention newspaper reports: the general consensus being that Luís Neves must adequately explain all the loose ends as quickly as possible – and not, as he has intimated, at a ‘time when he is ready’.

Yesterday, former PSD leader Rui Rio brought his feelings to the fore, suggesting the whole affair is eating away at the credibility of the PSD party (the majority political force in the AD coalition government), not to mention the credibility of the current administration. 

Rio said that the longer Luís Montenegro and Luís Neves stay ‘silent’ on this subject, the more right-wing CHEGA will reap political benefits, as has already happened with the announcement of a parliamentary inquiry into Neves’ years as national director of the PJ.

Source material: Público/ SIC Notícias/ Expresso