"Today, at a land border, a 42-year-old man was handed over to the Judiciary Police, by the Spanish authorities, within the scope of the fulfilment of a European arrest warrant issued by the Faro prosecutor's office. The 42-year-old man was strongly indicted for the practice of several armed robberies, which took place in the month of July, in the Algarve region", reads a note published on the official PJ page.

According to the same statement, "the detainee will be presented to the national judicial authorities, in the district of Faro, within the legally established deadlines".

Sidney Martins is one half of a Portuguese couple, arrested in Spain, on August 13, in the city of Zamora.

The 42-year-old man and his partner Nélida Guerreiro, 40, known as the Portuguese 'Bonnie & Clyde', are the subject of three investigations in Portugal, being suspected of a triple homicide in Bragança and armed robberies in Fundão and Algarve, in addition to robberies that they are suspected of committing in Spain.

The couple are the subject of three investigations in Portugal, being suspected of a triple homicide in Bragança and armed robberies in Fundão and Algarve, according to a source linked to the case.

The murders in Bragança are said to have occurred on July 9 and July 20.

Murders

According to Jornal de Notícias, Sidney Martins took advantage of the absence of Nélida Guerreiro and a mutual friend of the couple, Carlos Pires, to rob the house of the latter's parents, having killed his mother and assaulted his father, who was transported to the hospital.

After 11 days, Sidney Martins and Nélida Guerreiro, allegedly drug addicts, defined a strategy to re-enter the house, this time to steal drugs from Carlos Pires and money from his father, with the robbery culminating in murder.

The bodies were discovered in the house, after an alert was given by neighbours regarding a fire in the house, caused by the alleged murderers to cover up the crime.

Armed robberies

Sidney Martins and Nélida Guerreiro are also indicted for the assault on a service station on the A23, in Fundão, Castelo Branco district, the same source confirmed to Lusa.

The Portuguese duo is also suspected of committing several armed robberies at petrol stations in the Algarve, from where they then went to Spain and committed several other robberies, namely in Seville, Toledo and Badajoz, using the same 'modus operandi' of intimidation with a firearm and a knife.

Following the European arrest warrants, issued by the Public Prosecutor's Office "in the context of an investigation under way in the DIAP [Department of Investigation and Criminal Action] of Faro", the two suspects were arrested on Saturday, August 13, in Zamora, Spain.