Fifteen police officers, including two police chiefs, are being held as an investigation spreads into alleged violence towards vulnerable victims at two police stations in Lisbon, reports say.
In January, two officers in their 20s were charged with torture, rape and abuse of power. The incidents were allegedly filmed and shared in WhatsApp groups involving dozens of other officers.
Another seven officers were detained in March and on Tuesday one civilian and 15 more officers were taken in. Two of them are police chiefs, police sources have told Portuguese media.
It is not clear if the new detainees are suspected of taking part in the abuse or of failing to report it.
The allegations are linked to the Rato and Bairro Alto police stations in Lisbon in 2024 and 2025, with the victims said to have been drug addicts, homeless people and immigrants.
