mazza2000

 

pages 51 and 52

Summarising the diligences that are reported in the process and that were carried out or coordinated by the PJ, the following should be mentioned:

- de factum preservation of the location (despite the fact that it had already been rummaged by countless persons), several collections and exams on the existence of possible residues, as well as a circumstantiated photographic report;

- installation, within the first 24 hours, of an extensive operational scheme, including the participation of several police forces and civil protection services, in a total of over 130 elements;

- reinforcement, within the next 24 hours, of said operational scheme, with the mobilization of over 300 elements from police forces and public entities;

- the operational mechanism that was implemented on the terrain included, among others, and as soon as possible, the installation of posts to control the roads and the southern terrestrial frontier with Spain, the usage of canine detection teams, the usage of exceptional search and rescue means �?aerial, terrestrial and maritime -, alerts and broadcasts all over the country and abroad. Just as an example, it is mentioned that during the following weeks and in permanence, two helicopters, four ships and several off-road vehicles were used, apart from airplanes and private ships;

- in the same manner, the investigative operations were coordinated with the specific search operations, and hundreds of diligences were carried out, like the identification and hearing �?both formally and informally �?of citizens, the execution of door-to-door searches in the residences and tourist resorts of Vila da Luz and surrounding areas, the identification and search of vehicles, and searches on the terrain, in an area that was initially of 15 square kilometers, and then was progressively enlarged until 30 square kilometers (where special attention was given to locations like wells, passages, tunnels, dams and lakes);

The magnitude of this operation exceeded, right from the first moment, the dimension that is commonly used in similar cases, a fact that was made public, having been notoriously and widely publicized by the media.

On the following days, over 700 persons that might possess any relevant information about the disappearance were formally and informally questioned, the PJ having used, for that task, over 100 employees from several departments in Portimão, Faro and Lisbon, which worked on a consecutive basis of 24 hours per day.

Equally, all the locations where images that could be related to the case might exist, were consulted (like, for example, restaurants and petrol stations) and telephone lines from the permanent services of the departments in Faro and Portimão were made available, and a mobile police post was installed in Vila da Luz for the collection of information.

Beyond the already mentioned identifications and domiciliary door-to-door searches, the identification, contact and interview with known suspects in the area that had previously been connected to sexual criminality over minors was carried out.