Brit biscuit bingo players arrested in Algarve raid

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4980902/Clickety-nicked.html

Clickety nicked
30 Brits quizzed for 4 hours as 12 cops swoop
on bingo after barmy 2-wk stake-out


Exclusive
By JAMES MILLS and BEN CUSACK
Published: 13 hrs ago
162

COPS arrested a bar full of Brits — for playing bingo.
Around 30 holidaymakers and expats were quizzed through the night for breaking Portugal’s strict gambling laws — even though the first prize was only a tin of biscuits and a bar of chocolate.
Many of the Brits were due in court this morning.
Police pounced — after staking out The Yorkshire Tavern in Albufeira for WEEKS — as organisers handed out the prize.
Landlady Marianne Pittaway, 34, said: “They rounded us up like a bunch of gangsters.”

First two plain-clothed officers INFILTRATED the pub.
They POSED as customers to mingle with the suspects — holidaymakers and expats aged from 23 to 76.
Finally they WAITED for the handing out of illicit prizes — a tin of biscuits and a chocolate bar.
The two detectives then flashed police badges and used radios to call in a dozen uniformed officers.
The Brits were ushered on minibuses and taken to a station to be quizzed for FOUR HOURS. Even those not playing bingo were arrested for “observing a crime”.
Pub landlady Marianne Pittaway, 34, said: “They rounded us all up like a bunch of gangsters at about 11pm. It was 3am by the time they let us all go.”
Half a dozen of those arrested on Friday have returned to the UK. The remainder were due in court at 9am today for further questioning in front of a judge.
They could face fines of between £1,300 and £8,500 under strict gambling laws which mean organisers of bingo or raffle nights have to apply for a one-off government licence.

Marianne, who runs the pub with her Portuguese partner Antonio Cardoso, 47, explained: “I thought bingo was only illegal if cash prizes were being handed out. We were just giving away a few little prizes for fun.
“We took about 50 euros from customers to cover the cost of prizes. We didn’t make any profit.
“It was only the third week. I recognised the plain-clothed cops from the first two weeks. They must have been staking the place out ready for the big sting.”
Antonio added: “Why didn’t they just have a quiet word first?”
The biscuits and chocolate were won by 74-year-old Gerald Platt, from Bicester, Oxfordshire. He said: “I put them on the floor and was going for the full house when the microphone went quiet and plain-clothes police started going from table to table.
“One officer asked me to write out my name on the back of my bingo card. He put that and the pen in a plastic bag, sealed it up and took it away as evidence.” He said the police confiscated the biscuits — but he managed to hide the chocolate.
Gerald went on: “I shared that round on a bus on the way to the station. Some people didn’t want any because they were worried about eating the evidence.”
Police also took as evidence the remaining prizes, the bingo machine, cards and pens plus a microphone and speakers.

Marianne — who is from York and has a ten-year-old daughter — said: “One couple from Wigan were only in the bar to watch a rugby league match. They were arrested for observing a crime.”
Expat Linda Royle, 56, who moved from Salford, Gtr Manchester, 13 years ago, said: “We were in that police station for hours. Nobody was allowed to leave until everybody had been dealt with.
“My husband wasn’t even playing bingo, he was just watching the telly. Now we’ve got to appear in court like dangerous criminals.”
Holidaymaker Maggie Williams, 63, from Manchester, said: “I couldn’t believe I was arrested for playing bingo. I’ve only ever got a parking ticket before.”
Fellow tourist Gail Johnson, 45, a carer from York, said: “I was just sat with my friends having a natter. Police have told me they are going to get in contact with British police so I can face my punishment at home.
“It’s scary. I don’t want to be a criminal — especially over something as trivial as bingo.”
Expat and former publican Cheryl Thompson, 63, joked: “I’ve thrown thousands of bingo games over the years, and they’ve never been that exciting.”
Last night police in Albufeira refused to comment.


Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4980902/Clickety-nicked.html#ixzz2X8Mxogbf


Well done, Algarve! The country's nearly bankrupt, and that's yet more bad publicity, and people who will never set foot in the place again.

Pity the local police weren't so keen to arrest muggers and home invaders - not to mention rounding up paedophiles and finding missing children.

But hey, those bingo cards won't raid themselves!

Makes them sound like brain dead morons.....

My friends, this was taken from The Portugal News newspaper:

http://www.theportugalnews.com/news/police-arrest-27-british-and-irish-bingo-players-at-albufeira-pub/28705

Speaking to The Portugal News outside Albufeira court today (Monday, 24 June), bar owner Marianne Pittaway, 34, who has owned the Yorkshire Tavern for eight years, described the police action as “ridiculous” and “heavy-handed.”

“We were the last to leave the bar. We locked up and were taken on a bus to the station at around ten past ten Friday night and we only left at quarter to three in the morning”, she said, arguing: “Most of our customers are OAPs and they’ve never been in trouble in their lives. Now they’ve been arrested and in court for a game of bingo. Clients want entertainment and we were only playing for a box of biscuits and some drinks.”

An Irish holiday-home owner who was also caught up in the action challenged: “What kind of image does this give Portugal?
“I wasn’t even playing bingo and I was arrested. I was just about to finish my drink and go home. It was excessive. It will make people scared to go in bars now”, the Dubliner said.

A British ex-pat who has lived in the Algarve for 22 years and was also arrested described the incident as “crazy.”

“It’s a waste of paperwork”, she slammed.

GNR police told The Portugal News that the swoop was part of ongoing police action to crack down on illegal gambling in the Algarve.
“It was an operation to tackle illegal gambling. Those who were involved were participating in a game of ‘luck and chance’ and were arrested. They were taken to Albufeira police station and notified to appear in court”, explained a GNR spokesperson, stressing the detainees were only taken to the station for questioning and were “not held in cells”: “They were given a notification to appear in court and were then free to go home.”

“It is not the first time action has been carried out against illegal gambling and it won’t be the last” he added.

Ms. Pittaway reasoned: “I know police have a job to do and have to follow up everything, but this was over-exaggerated. If anything take us, the owners, in for questioning and not the customers.”

Those arrested could now face hefty fines for their involvement in "illegal gambling."

'Illegal gambling'? Bingo? For biscuits? Have the police the slightest idea how ridiculous they sound? Pity they don't put the same effort into stopping visitors to the Algarve being mugged.

Comment:

It is sad that the police have nothing better to do than raid a bar for playing bingo.
The robbers and muggers will be delighted that they are not on the police to do list. G N R get your priorities right or you will loose your support of the public.
by John M Haigh from Algarve on 24-06-2013 02:01:00

Quite. If I was having a drink on holiday, and ended up in a cell because other people were - SHOCK!!! HORROR!!!! playing bingo for biscuits and chocolate, I would NEVER set foot in the country again, and I would make sure everyone knew about it, and was warned off.

Doesn't the Algarve have enough problems?

Algarve´s reputation is already damaged due to the despicable behaviour of police of Algarve´s crap investigation (whose true responsible was the corrupt, incompetent gonçalo amaral) about Madeleine´s abduction, but, still, this police insists in more disgusting behaviour, instead of such behaviour, Algarve police should be more concerned about a missing UK child abducted from her own bed in Praia da Luz, also should be concerned with paedophiles or other missing children in Algarve.

It's a shame to see it, Pedro, when your country needs every cent it can earn, especially from tourists. What on earth were they thinking of? Why didn't someone just point out to the bar owner that they should get a temporary licence? Instead of wasting police time and money, and yet again, terrible publicity internationally

I hope they didn't target people from the British Isles out of spite.

bb1, I agree with you.

lily, your words are mine.

That's been suggested before, hasn't it, when cars were being targetted for tickets?

Yes it has and this is so petty that it does make you think.

I don't think I will ever visit the place.  It's enough to put anyone off.

about: "Courts fine 28 British and Irish bingo players for game in Albufeira pub", if it is illegal, which is not, why don´t police do the same in the casinos? Algarve is full of them, I´m not saying that casinos are illegal, but, that pub or any other pub have the same rights like the casinos.

http://onlinecasinosuite.com/gambling/portugal/

I´m no expert, but, as you can see here, that pub, according to link above, have not committed any crime.

"Games such as bingo, horse racing and casinos are allowed to operate through a contract (normally 20 to 30 years). These contracts usually restrict the game to a specific region of the country.", which was the case.

Pedro it does sound like they were told to hassle the bingo players.  It reminds me a little of The Inquisition.

“Everyone in the bar who was playing bingo was handed a €300 fine plus a three-month suspended sentence. Those who were in the bar but not playing were given a €150 fine plus a three-month suspended sentence. I was given a €700 fine and a four-month suspended sentence and [partner] António was given a €500 fine and a four-month suspended sentence.”

A three-month suspended prison sentence, and a big chunk of spending money siezed,  merely for being in a bar on holiday when others were playing bingo?

None of those people will ever set foot in Portugal again, in case they're jailed for walking on the wrong side of the pavement or some other trumped-up charge.

Their friends and family won't either - I wouldn't have blamed the arrestees if they were on the first plane out of country before anything else was dreamed up.

What's the tourist board motto? Come to the Algarve and be very, very afraid?

Look on the bright side. 

Their crime is rated as 1/6th as bad as a police officer covering up the torture of a suspect.

CdM's picture of the desperados:

http://www.cmjornal.xl.pt/detalhe/noticias/nacional/portugal/apostas-ilegais-tramam-turistas

translation about link above:

Albufeira: GNR detained 28 British

Illegal gambling plot tourists

the British assures that the prizes were drinks and biscuits. They Were sentenced to fines between 150 and 300 euros. Bar owners have to pay 1200 euros.

The 28 British held by illegal gambling in a bar in Albufeira guarantee that premiums were "drink bottles and crackers." However, the GNR has a different opinion: in the bar there were money stakes. Presented to court yesterday, they will have to pay fines between 150 and 300 euros. And the owners, a couple, fines of 700 euros and 500.

Karen and Michael Varley were two of the detained tourists when they played in bar

The arrests occurred Friday evening when many Britons took advantage of the holidays and playing bingo at The Yorkshire Tavern. The fun was interrupted by military GNR, and infiltrators who were already investigating the bar for weeks.

"at the vacation package was not included the detention or the interrogation of four hours," ironically told Karen Varley, captured by the GNR, along with her husband. "We did not know it was illegal.'ve Done these games in several countries in Europe and never had problems," he explains.

One of the owners of the bar, António Cardoso, ensures that the premium was symbolic: drinks and biscuits. Each participant entered with a minimum value. And the 'cake' full serve to buy snacks awarded as trophies.

All the bingo material was seized by the GNR, which has in motion various operations against illegal gambling. Yesterday, the Court of Albufeira eventually convict the two owners of the bar to pay 1200 euro fine and 20 players to pay 300 euros each. Four people watching, have to pay 150 euros each.

Everything will revert to an institution.

What's the 'institution'? The police Xmas party funds?

bb1, your words are mine.

My friends, this was taken from Algarve Resident newspaper:

http://www.algarveresident.com/0-53716/algarve/bingo-arrests-in-albufeira

http://www.cmjornal.xl.pt/detalhe/noticias/nacional/portugal/roubos-armados-contra-turistas

Albufeira: Judicial Police is investigating
Armed robberies against tourists
Four girls in their 20s, were assaulted early yesterday morning by two men with a gun. Tuesday there were two attempts

The Judicial Police is investigating a series of armed robberies reported in recent days in Albufeira, which have targeted young foreign tourists, when they come back from the bars. The last cases were early yesterday morning, with four women being mugged by two men, which threatened them with a gun and stole their wallets. The first robbery took place by 2:30 a.m., in the street Oura. The victims, two Dutch tourists in their 20s, were attacked by the duo, which threatened with a firearm and robbed them. The two men fled, then the street Almeida Garrett. Witnesses reported that the assailants were still persecuted by GNR, who were patrolling the place, but managed to escape. Sometime later, but in the tourist village of Albufeira Jardim 1, were stolen two more foreign tourists. Also here were two assailants, armed with a pistol. In both cases, after threatening with gun, took the victims' wallets. Already early on Tuesday, two other youths had been the target of an attempted armed robbery in Albufeira, near the apartment windows of the Sea, in Montechoro zone. According to the CM found the victims were surprised by a man armed with a pistol in hand and a cap on his head, appearing to be about 25 years. The theft was not consummated because people came and the robber fled.

-------------

More time patrolling the streets and less time arresting holidaymakers who see other holidaymakers playing bingo for packets of biscuits might be a good idea.

It's hard not to get the impression that holidaymakers are actually hated on the Algarve.

GNR raid home poker game

Created on Thursday, 18 July 2013 23:26
The GNR have arrested 18 people and seized €47k in assets in a raid on a private poker game in Madeira.
The bingo raid in Albufeira last month gained worldwide media attention and had the affect of displaying Portugal as a repressive and unwelcoming holiday destination. This has been followed up by a raid on a private poker game in Madeira.
The arrest of 18 people at a private house followed a four month surveillance operation and was authorised by a warrant from the Court of Funchal.
Ten people were playing at the time of the raid and police seized €22,00 in cash and two vehicles plus everyone’s mobile phones, a laptop and an iPad.
The two cars seized were allegedly on the island illegally as were some of the players.
The GNR has commented that those arrested could be jailed for between three months and two years. Gambling in Madeira is only legally possible at the Casino Madeira.

http://algarvedailynews.com/news/10375-gnr-raid-home-poker-game

Good God.

gained worldwide media attention and had the affect of displaying Portugal as a repressive and unwelcoming holiday destination

That is exactly how it appears.

We here on this forum, have read so many shocking stories of horrendous crimes having been committed and nothing much being done about them.

Priorities!