According to an official source of the court, the defendant was indicted for the crimes of terrorism and possession of a prohibited weapon, with the investigating judge deciding on the measure of deprivation of liberty due to “strong indications of the continuation of criminal activity and disturbance of public tranquillity”.

According to the information provided, the university student will be taken to Lisbon Prison.

He was present edto the judge only after 12:00 - although he arrived around 09:00 at the Campus da Justiça (Lisbon) in a Judiciary Police (PJ) vehicle - and did not make any statements during the interrogation.

The suspect was to be represented by an unofficial defender who was on call, but, after the interrogation began, he ended up seeing a lawyer who was mandated by the family.

The defendant was arrested on Thursday by the PJ, who said they had thus prevented a “terrorist action” and had seized several prohibited weapons.

In a statement, the PJ said that the investigation that led to the arrest was triggered “on suspicion of an attack directed at university students at the University of Lisbon”.

Through the National Counterterrorism Unit, the PJ began the operation on Thursday morning, fulfilling house search warrants.

FBI tip

A source linked to the process, told Lusa that the alert for the terrorist attack was given by the FBI, the police unit of the United States Department of Justice. The same source confirmed that the detainee has Portuguese nationality, that the attack was scheduled for this Friday and that this would be an individual attack, without the action of a group behind it.

According to the PJ's statement, "vast evidence was seized, which would confirm the initial suspicions". In addition to prohibited weapons, other items were seized, “susceptible to being used in the practice of violent crimes” and extensive documentation, “in addition to a written plan with the details of the criminal action to be launched”.