Pedro Dias, the suspect for the Aguiar da Beira crimes
Pedro Dias – the man wanted for the so-called “bloodbath in Beira” over a week ago, in which two people died and one remains on life support – is still on the run.
In a week when newspapers have quoted police saying that the 44-year-old had “reached Spain”, “gone back to his roots in South Africa”, “was possibly already in France”, or “may have taken a boat to Ceuta”, it appears that all along he was lying low just a few kilometres from his home in Arouca.
Five days into the ‘manhunt’ which still involves hundreds of agents, Dias resurfaced in an empty property in Moldes when the daughter of the owner turned up to do some cleaning.
Previously described as “heavily armed and very dangerous”, Dias appears to have gagged his victim with a potato – and then used a sock to silence a neighbour who came running after hearing screams.
Both victims of the attack have since said Dias did not appear to have any weapons on him at all.
But the 44-year-old alleged to have shot four people in cold blood went on to steal a car and reach Vila Real by Sunday late afternoon, where he was spotted “momentarily” by police who lost him within minutes.
Since then, despite an apparently water-tight lockdown of the area by armed security forces, there has been no sign of Dias – other than various discounted ‘sightings’, including reports that he could be wearing red clothes.
On Wednesday, tabloid Correio da Manhã suggested aerodromes were under surveillance as police fear the trained pilot could try to commandeer a plane.
But the truth appears to be that one desperate man has managed to evade the country’s ‘finest’, as salient details of this story still remain unclear.
The drama, which began with the alleged pointblank shooting to death of a young policeman, appears to have involved “other suspects”, but until now, not one piece of information about these other suspects has been forthcoming.
