Two Portuguese men aged 28 and 30 were detained in the Lisbon metropolitan area on Monday 10 August 2026 over a hashish supply network.[1] The arrests were made by the Divisão de Investigação Criminal, the criminal investigation division of the PSP, Portugal’s public security police, after a year of evidence gathering.[1] Police said the men were caught as they made another drug transport intended for sale in the Lisbon area.[1]

Sub-intendant Nelson Silva said the cell exported and delivered drugs that were then meant for direct sale.[2] Officers seized 37,108.95 grams of hashish, which the PSP equated to 74,217 doses.[1] They also took three light vehicles, 185 rounds of ammunition of various calibres and two ballistic vests.[1] The firearms seized were an AK-47 Kalashnikov machine gun and two 7.65 mm pistols.[1] 7,614.35 euros in cash was seized.[1]

After their arrest, the two men appeared before a first judicial interrogation and a court ordered them held in preventive detention, Portugal’s most serious coercive measure.[1] They are suspected of drug trafficking and of possessing a prohibited weapon.[1] At a press conference at the division’s Lisbon headquarters, the PSP said the two men bought the hashish in Spain and sold it on in Portugal.[3] Investigators suspect the hashish came from Morocco and reached Europe through Spain.[3] Both men had criminal records and were established in Portugal.[3]

The operation was carried out on Monday by the Divisão de Investigação Criminal de Lisboa.[2] Nelson Silva said the AK-47 showed the group was prepared, calling the dismantled cell more prepared than other trafficking structures the PSP had investigated.[3] Silva said the investigation was not closed and that the material gathered could identify other people in the distribution chain.[3]