The Cape Verdean Judiciary Police announced today the detention of two suspects involved in 14 counts of qualified fraud and document forgery related to individuals seeking visas for Portugal. The crimes allegedly generated four million escudos (~€36,000).
The suspects, a 32-year-old man and a 59-year-old woman, presented themselves as “visa facilitators through the Portuguese Embassy in Cape Verde in exchange for financial payments, promising to secure visa issuance,” according to the police. Both will remain under investigation while free, subject to periodic reporting to authorities and a prohibition on contact with each other.
High demand for visas to Portugal has attracted intermediaries offering assistance in various steps of the bureaucratic process—sometimes illegally.
One ongoing investigation by the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Cape Verde concerns the hoarding of appointment slots for visas by companies that then charge differentiated fees for services that are otherwise free at official public counters.
