Portugal police say operation breaks up large-scale illegal immigration network

LISBON, May 26 (Reuters) - ‌Portuguese police said ​on ​Tuesday that the authorities have dismantled a criminal group allegedly responsible for illegally trying to ‌regularise the status of around 4,000 migrants and ⁠arrested two suspected ringleaders, amid a tightening of immigration rules by ‌the centre-right government.

• Police said ‌the operation "Miraculous Land", carried out on Monday on the outskirts of Lisbon, targeted a criminal group dealing in ​illegal immigration, document forgery, computer fraud and money laundering.

• It said the illegal regularisation of around 4,000 ⁠migrants in recent years had generated hundreds of thousands of euros in illicit ​profits.

• The government has tightened immigration rules, saying loopholes in the system built under the ​previous administration that gave foreigners easy ‌access to the jobs market had enabled widespread abuse.

• The police said the group ⁠used stolen social security online access credentials from dozens of insolvent, inactive companies to provide bogus employment contracts and other documentation.

• ⁠It said the investigation began in September 2023 and the main ​suspects - a businessman and a lawyer - are a foreign national and a Portuguese citizen.

• The police did not identify the two detainees.

• ‌Portugal, with about 10.5 million people, has seen a surge in immigration in recent ‌years.

• Migration agency AIMA estimates more than 1.5 million foreign ⁠citizens were legally residing ‌in the country ​last year, about double the number from three years earlier.

(Reporting by Sergio Goncalves; Editing by Hugh ‌Lawson)

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