Armed gang strip well-known Lisbon restaurateur of iconic jewellery

It only took minutes, but Lisbon restaurateur Vasco Rodrigues – owner of well-known eaterie ‘Júlio dos Caracóis’ – ‘stared death in the face’: a gun was pointed to his head, as the voice of one of his assailants queried: “Do you want to die?”

He didn’t: and thus he was stripped of his signature gold medallion, and various gold bracelets.

Vasco’s attackers would have taken his rings, had it not been for a neighbour to come out and see the commotion, and start shouting.

The four men made off in a car, stolen the week before, with a fifth man at the wheel.

Everything points to this raid as having been carefully planned, writes Correio da Manhã. The men waited until Vasco had closed the restaurant to approach him in the street.

Speaking about the terrifying experience (in the early hours of Sunday morning), Rodrigues admitted that he “loved gold” but will never wear it again. The restaurateur, son of the ‘Júlio’ after which his restaurant is named, estimates the value of the items stolen at around €100,000.

PSP police were initially called. The case has passed to the PJ judicial police, because it involves guns.

The ‘good news’ is that the restaurant has CCTV cameras that caught the attack. The not-so-good news is that the men’s faces will have been hidden, due to the hoods that they were wearing.

CM adds that Júlio dos Caracóis is an obligatory stop for anyone who loves the Portuguese delicacy of snails. It opened over 60 years ago, in a much more humble state, at its current premises in Rua Vale Formoso da Cima, in Marvila. These days refurbished and much larger, it attracts “people from all over the world”, including artists and public figures.

Source material: Correio da Manhã

Natasha Donn

Journalist for the Portugal Resident.