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Portugal’s Food and Economic Security Authority (ASAE) has detained six people for the crime of price speculation in the sale of tickets for Bad Bunny concerts, who is performing this Tuesday and Wednesday at the Estádio do Sport Lisboa e Benfica, in Lisbon.
In a statement shared on social media, ASAE said this took place in the context of a “criminal prevention operation” carried out “in recent days”, codenamed “Puerto Rico”, which also led to the seizure of 14 tickets.
The investigation, which focused on sales adverts on social media, uncovered “the promotion of tickets being offered at prices far above their face value”. A crime which, by the authorities’ calculations, would have generated an extraordinary (and illegal) profit for the sellers of between 120 and 410 euros per ticket.
The six individuals targeted by criminal proceedings were then “made subject to the coercive measure of Termo de Identidade e Residência (identity and residence terms), and notified to appear in court”.
However, ASAE clarified that, after appearing “before the judicial authority”, the defendants “were made subject to the measure of provisional suspension of the proceedings, for periods of between five and six months”. This is on condition that they pay “amounts ranging from 400 to 1,000 euros” or accept “community work of up to 110 hours”.
In the same press release, the authority also issued a warning to consumers “not to buy tickets above the official price”, since “speculative resale constitutes a criminal offence punishable by a prison sentence of six months to three years and a fine of no fewer than 100 day-fines”.
The first of Bad Bunny’s two shows in Lisbon gets under way at 20:00 this Tuesday, with the band Chuwi opening. The Puerto Rican artist’s performance is scheduled to begin at around 21:00.