PORTUGAL: OUR DEFENSE WAS LOOTED

The robbery in Tancos that took place in the middle of the week, at first was showing on the news very timidly and it was not attributed much importance to the episode in question. At the weekend the media "woke up" to such a serious situation, and politicians reacted in a traditional way, coming up with assertions of the kind that this serious theft would be investigated to its final conclusion. Curiously, this event only became more notorious when a Spanish newspaper decided to publish in detail the stolen material.

This event is obviously extremely serious. It reveals  not only a terrible security system regarding war material, but also uncertainty about the real intentions of the assailants. Some sources are associating this action to the organized crime.

Another aspect that should be neither neglected nor forgotten, is that this kind of assault isn’t the first to occur in recent times. First we had the unit of Commands’ assault and then, more recently, the robbery of the deposit of weapons of the PSP – Public Security Police. In the face of such events, our rulers are having na embrassing behavior, and when it is acknowledged the seriousness of the facts, a series of investigations are taken, but there is an erosion of responsabilities.. For its part, the military have been criticizing the poor political management.

One thing is clear. The material stolen from Tancos, according to some experts already heard, can suit several terror scenarios, especially if it falls into terrorist hands. The explosives which were stolen, for instance, can detonate several armored cars and it issufficient to demolish a building.

It has also transpired that the place where the material was stored has been at least 20 hours without any kind of surveillance and the security cameras weren’t functioning properly.

All this security breach raised a strong national concern, as well as in the European Union. As much as we try to "brush this under the carpet" we are on the edge of facing scenarios that can range from shooting down planes to blowing up armored cars. It only depends on the imagination and skills of the group that keeps this material.

After the tragic fires of Pedrógão Grande, we find the portuguese State failing once again on protecting its citizens!

Miguel Verde - Senior Consultant, Professor of International Relations