The Leader of a Neo-Nazi Cell Was a Portuguese Police Officer. The Target List Included the Prime Minister and European Council President Costa

Portuguese prosecutors have charged nine people linked to the neo-Nazi group Movimento Armilar Lusitano with offenses related to a terrorist organization. According to the indictment, its members drew up a list of dozens of politicians and public figures whom they identified as targets – ranging from the prime minister and the then-president to today's European Council President António Costa. One of the group's key figures was, notably, a police officer. ECO ↗

The case has gone almost unnoticed in the Slovak and Czech media – attention was absorbed by the football championship and Cristiano Ronaldo. Yet it is one of the most serious cases of far-right extremism Portugal has ever experienced.

The Indictment: Nine People, a Terrorist Organization

The indictment was made public on June 17 by the Central Department of Investigation and Criminal Action of the Portuguese Public Prosecutor's Office (DCIAP). Nine people have been charged – according to investigators, the founder and eight members – with four of them currently in pretrial detention. The indictment covers offenses related to a terrorist organization, ranging from its founding and leadership to membership; the newspaper Jornal de Negócios reports a total of 29 offenses, including possession of prohibited weapons. Jornal de Negócios ↗

According to the case file, the group pursued a clear goal: to overthrow the democratic regime and replace it with an authoritarian model. Investigators describe it as a nationalist, neo-Nazi and white-supremacist network with its own recruitment procedures and weapons production. One important distinction: this is not a verdict but an indictment, which a court has yet to rule on. Diário de Notícias ↗

The List Included the Prime Minister, the President, and the President of the European Council

The names on the list, which investigators consider a target list, are attracting the most attention. It included around 40 politicians and, in total, more than a hundred public figures and institutions (some sources put the number as high as 175 names). ECO ↗

Among the politicians named were then-President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa (whose second term ended in March 2026), Prime Minister Luís Montenegro, former Prime Minister and current European Council President António Costa, former President Aníbal Cavaco Silva, former PSD party leader and this year's presidential candidate Luís Marques Mendes, and the Mayor of Lisbon and former European Commissioner Carlos Moedas. However, the group also catalogued journalists, academics, artists and activists – the list included, for example, MPs Mariana and Joana Mortágua of the left-wing Bloco, comedians Ricardo Araújo Pereira and Nuno Markl, and musician Dino D'Santiago. The common denominator was people the group blamed for the "decline of the nation," particularly in connection with migration and anti-racism. Diário de Notícias ↗

A Leader in Uniform and Weapons from a 3D Printer

The most troubling element of the case is the infiltration of far-right elements into the security forces. According to the indictment and Portuguese media, the group's leader – or at least its key figure – was PSP police officer Bruno Gonçalves, assigned to the Lisbon municipal police. It was reportedly he who used his position to obtain a document containing Prime Minister Montenegro's address and share it with the others. Público ↗

According to the newspaper Público, the group discussed a direct attack on the prime minister's apartment in Lisbon. They rejected the idea of a kidnapping, but a proposal was made to throw a grenade into the apartment. In the end, the act did not take place – according to investigators, due to a lack of resources. The group's arsenal, however, was not negligible: during raids, police found ammunition, explosives, edged weapons, and, notably, weapons printed on 3D printers along with several printers. Público ↗

The Largest Case of Its Kind in Portugal

The group was actually broken up by the Polícia Judiciária back on June 17, 2025, in an operation called "Desarme 3D"; during fifteen searches at the time, it detained six people. Polícia Judiciária ↗ The Portuguese weekly SÁBADO described it at the time as the largest far-right armed militia case ever uncovered in the country's history. SÁBADO ↗ The current indictment is the culmination of this investigation, a year later.

Movimento Armilar Lusitano did not emerge in a vacuum. During the raids, investigators also found materials from the neo-Nazi group "1143," led by convicted extremist Mário Machado, and some of the members had passed through older far-right structures. The case comes at a time when the far-right party Chega is among the strongest in the Portuguese parliament, and its leader André Ventura advanced to the second round of the presidential election earlier this year. The indictment itself does not mention the party – this is a separate militant offshoot of the far right – but the whole case fits into a broader European trend of growing domestic extremist violence and 3D-printed weapons production. Jornal de Notícias ↗

What hotinfo Is Following

The court's response will be key – whether it accepts the terrorism indictment and when the main trial of the nine defendants will begin. We will also be watching how the Portuguese police handle the case, given that one of its own officers is among the accused, and whether the investigation uncovers further links to the international neo-Nazi scene.