Three Porto police officers jailed over ‘drugs-for-informants’ scheme

Three former officers of Portugal’s Public Security Police (PSP) have been sentenced to prison after a Porto court found they diverted drugs and cash seized during police operations to pay informants for intelligence on drug traffickers.

The São João Novo Court has  sentenced Hugo Silva to eight years and nine months in prison, Sérgio Pereira to seven years and eight months, and Ricardo Santos to four years and 10 months. Santos’ sentence was suspended. A fourth defendant, PSP sub-commissioner Ismael Carvalho, was acquitted.

According to the prosecution, the three officers, members of Porto PSP’s Police Inspection Brigade, appropriated drugs and money confiscated during anti-drug operations and passed them to informants in exchange for information on traffickers operating in some of the city’s most deprived neighbourhoods.

Delivering the verdict, presiding judge Ana Castro Dias condemned the officers’ conduct as “an abuse of power”, saying it fundamentally betrayed the responsibilities entrusted to law enforcement.

“Police officers are the face of the State,” she said. “Wearing a uniform does not give anyone the right to ignore the law. They should be the first to act within its limits.”

The judge added that she took no satisfaction in convicting police officers but said the proven conduct was incompatible with the rule of law.

Prosecutors alleged the officers also carried out illegal house searches without judicial authorisation, coerced and threatened informants who stopped cooperating, deliberately allowed some traffickers to continue operating, and falsified search, seizure and arrest reports to conceal their actions.

The investigation – classified as particularly complex – relied on telephone and environmental surveillance, as well as physical monitoring. Investigators testified that official police reports often conflicted with what surveillance teams had observed in the field and said they uncovered irregular practices, including officers retaining seized drugs and cash before officially registering them.

The three officers were arrested in July 2023 and remained in pre-trial detention until January this year, when they were released after reaching the maximum legal detention period. Their trial began in September 2025.

During closing arguments, prosecutor Rogério Osório argued that the evidence proved the officers had committed almost all the offences listed in the indictment, including embezzlement, abuse of power, document forgery, aggravated coercion, unlawful detention, assault and misconduct in public office.

“The ends do not justify the means,” Osório told the court, arguing that the defendants had undermined public trust in the police and the State.

The defence teams rejected the allegations, claiming the case was built on unreliable testimony from drug traffickers and informants. They challenged the legality of the surveillance evidence and insisted the officers had never personally profited, arguing their methods were aimed solely at improving intelligence against organised drug crime.

Throughout the trial, the three convicted officers denied operating a drugs-for-information scheme. Hugo Silva acknowledged using drug users as intelligence sources but insisted promises of drugs were merely a ruse to identify traffickers and were never fulfilled. Sérgio Pereira admitted providing food and clothing to vulnerable informants but denied supplying narcotics, while Ricardo Santos dismissed the accusations outright as untrue.

It seems more than likely that appeals will be lodged, albeit this has not been stated in reports coming out today.

Source material: Jornal de Notícias