Yet another burglary

guest too · Post by **guest too** » Thu Aug 05, 2004 9:28 pm

Beware! Friends of ours, staying at our house on Vale de Milho, were burgled this afternoon – the first day of their holiday. They were on the pool terrace while laddo (or lassie) managed to get over a seven-foot wall and into the house via a bedroom patio window, set back from the rest of the terrace, but certainly no more than five metres from where our friends were sunning themselves.
Total losses: 2 cameras, 2 mobile phones, about GBP200 and peace of mind for the next fortnight!

What an unhappy introduction to CVO and the Algarve. Needless to say, the GNR showed no great interest.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Thu Aug 05, 2004 9:41 pm

well hardly surprising..from what i have heard val milho is popular for tourists and thieves alike....and no it comes as littl surprise that the gnr are not interested..they are too busy catching motorists without the right pieces of paper

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Thu Aug 05, 2004 11:26 pm

Our police force and adjoining ones have started this year doing occasional spot checks and stopping motorists in large numbers - it has been very effective in catching robbers, burglars and generally a lot of nasty wanted criminals so maybe the GNR aren't wasting their time?

guset6666 · Post by **guset6666** » Fri Aug 06, 2004 9:07 am

Just another insurance scam, like loads of others do to get there holiday money back! like the GNR say.

Bleeker · Post by **Bleeker** » Fri Aug 06, 2004 9:38 am

sorry to hear that. since i`ll be going to a portugal villa myself in about two weeks as well might it be wise for us to keep valuables kept in the car or are those being breaked in on a regular basis as well?

kteee · Post by **kteee** » Fri Aug 06, 2004 10:40 am

Most villas have a safe, and all valuables should be placed there, cars are no safer than houses unfortunately.

Check with the person you rent through to see if a safe is available for your use.

guest too · Post by **guest too** » Fri Aug 06, 2004 11:10 am

Had you been the recipient of the phone call from our friends yesterday evening guset6666, you would know differently.

The house does have a safe kteee, but how many of us would put cameras and mobiles in there even if there were room?

kteee · Post by **kteee** » Fri Aug 06, 2004 11:18 am

My response was to Bleeker as an alternative to leaving valuables in a car

Bleeker · Post by **Bleeker** » Fri Aug 06, 2004 11:35 am

kteee wrote:Most villas have a safe, and all valuables should be placed there, cars are no safer than houses unfortunately.

Check with the person you rent through to see if a safe is available for your use.

okis Kteee thx for the info!

april · Post by **april** » Fri Aug 06, 2004 12:33 pm

Well its just plain stupid to go out without putting things in the safe-i dont mean anyone deserves to get burgled but there are opportunists everywhere in every country. Yes it is sometimes a pain opening the safe moving bits of furniture etc to get to it....but just get organised. First one dressed gets the taxi phoned, second one opens the safe and shouts 'who wants what out', third one pours the pre-taxi drinks, fourth one finally gets their bum down the stairs checks everyone has everything out of the safe and then locks it----it works for us!!! Its also a good idea to lock interior doors throughout the villa , such as bedroom etc --even if they do get in through a forgotten open window at least they wont get past the first foor.

biffa · Post by **biffa** » Fri Aug 06, 2004 3:44 pm

Yep!

One done next door to me in broad daylight at about 10 am.

Broke window to get in. Cheeky bugger said "Bom Dia" to the neighbour the other side before he broke in!

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Fri Aug 06, 2004 4:20 pm

I am ashamed to say we go out and leave everything more or less open...cars windows..Garage etc....for two years now ..we live in Vale de Milho....never had a problem , but will take more care in future........Oh yes ..we have a huge Dog that sits looking out of the gate.....I guess thats the answer.but no real help for a tourist I know...maybe somebody should start hiring out guard dogs........

Peter Belinfante · Post by **Peter Belinfante** » Sat Aug 07, 2004 12:15 am

Anonymous wrote:...maybe somebody should start hiring out guard dogs........

Who wants to hire my mother-in-law? She barks a lot! Bites at every word someone says! And if someone has met her; he/she won't be back for months! Price: € 0,25 a day! (only you have to pay for the food and loging; I'll pay the "one-way ticket" at the "never-come-back-line"!

dutchie · Post by **dutchie** » Sat Aug 07, 2004 12:31 am

Dear Peter, as your mother in law I think I should react. I thought you loved me. Well , I guess that dream fell to peaces now. Have you ever heard me singing in the shower? It doesn't sound like a dog at all. The only thing I really appreciate is that you are willing to pay my one-way-ticket. How did you know I wanted to stay in the Algarve for the rest of mylife? Thank you so much.

Thunderbolt · Post by **Thunderbolt** » Sat Aug 07, 2004 7:48 am

I think although people are careful, the burglars are opportunists and no matter how vigilant you are there is always something you could have done better.

I was at my villa this year, at night and we were sitting by the pool having a chat. My friend suddenly heard a noise and looked up and somemone was standing on our patio door, near the doors which we had left open (as we were around, we didn't see a problem with that). Thankfully, we scared him before he had the time to get in but we unfortunately didn't catch him.

It just shows that even when people are in the property and no further than 20 metres from the doors, that the burglars still find opportunities.

Grrrrrrrrrrrr

Yet another burglary

Yet another burglary

burglary

House breaker