The Portuguese police exposed a criminal group in which the UN peacekeepers in the Central African Republic (CAR) reported, reports DW.
Portugal authorities conducted searches and arrests throughout the country within one of the most large-scale courts against the military, after they reported that the troops deployed as the UN peacekeepers in the CAR could be used as couriers for the transportation of illegal goods, including diamonds, gold, drugs and weapons from Africa.
Officials reported that during the operation with the participation of more than 300 officers, about a dozen arrests and about 100 searches on military facilities and in homes were produced. They stated that the purpose of the operation was “a criminal network with international relations.”
“Now we study the possibility that some soldiers who participated in the national armed forces in the CAR were used as couriers during diamonds, gold and drug trafficking,” the headquarters of the army says in the statement.
It is indicated that the first suspicions of law enforcement agencies appeared in 2019. According to the investigation, peacekeepers for the delivery of goods to Europe used military aircraft flying between the CAR and Portugal and not to be inspected. Then diamonds, for example, went to the processing belgium. For money laundering, a large number of false faces and linden accounts were used.
It is worth noting, the CAR is rich in gold, diamonds and other minerals. However, despite such wealth of resources, the country remains poor in the conditions of continuing interfaith violence and conflict.
Lisbon provides peacemakers to the UN mission there since 2014. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Portugal only expressed the hope that the scandal would not affect the general positive image of Portuguese peacekeepers and the Armed Forces.