A 50-year-old man, divorced, residing in Vagos and working as an agricultural laborer, is in preventive detention and began being tried at the Aveiro Court for 12 qualified thefts, nine of which were completed, occurring in the city of Aveiro between October 2025 and January 2026. The defendant confessed to the authorship of the thefts, justifying that he committed them to maintain his drug consumption, along with his companion whom he met on Facebook.
The targets of the break-ins were commercial establishments, restaurants, the two municipal markets, the hospital canteen and cafeteria, causing thousands of euros in damages, not only from the stolen amounts but also from the damage caused by the break-ins. The man admitted to the authorship of the theft at a cafeteria on the night of January 7, 2026, which led to his arrest by the PSP, but did not admit to other thefts, including one at the hospital cafeteria from which 30 euros were reportedly taken.
The defendant explained the 35 euros seized at the time of his arrest as money from "going around asking" and not from theft. He denied the involvement of two unknown individuals in two thefts attributed to him. He also presented a different version of the stolen amounts and items, correcting the list presented by the victims.
The man also admitted to the thefts at cafés and establishments in the city center, at a pharmacy in Esgueira, at the Manuel Firmino municipal market on two occasions, at the Santiago market on Christmas Day 2025, and at the flower shop at the southern cemetery. He has two adult children and left a mobile phone at one of the stalls at the Manuel Firmino market during one of the thefts, which was seized by the PSP.
