Cybercrime Expert Carlos Cabreiro Named National Director of Portugal's Judiciary Police

Carlos Cabreiro, a 59-year-old senior criminal investigation coordinator who spent a decade building Portugal's cybercrime-fighting capacity almost from scratch, was appointed National Director of the Judiciary Police on March 31, 2026, for a three-year term. The appointment was announced through a note from the office of Prime Minister Luís Montenegro and was submitted to the President of the Republic. Cabreiro succeeds Luís Neves, who left the PJ directorship to become Minister of Internal Administration in February 2026, leaving the position vacant for more than a month. The appointment was made by joint order of Prime Minister Montenegro and Minister of Justice Rita Júdice, fulfilling the minister's previously stated preference for an internal candidate.

Cybercrime veteran built UNC3T from near-zero resources Cabreiro is a native of Miranda do Douro and has been with the Judiciary Police since 1991, accumulating more than three decades of investigative experience across multiple specialized units. He holds a Law degree from the Autonomous University of Lisbon and a postgraduate degree in information warfare from the Military Academy. Since 2016, he led the National Unit for Combating Cybercrime and Technological Crime, known by its Portuguese acronym UNC3T. A professional colleague quoted by Público described him as having built the unit "almost from scratch, despite the lack of material and human resources," and characterized his profile as "discreet, almost gray." The same source noted that Cabreiro is "esteemed by large companies and public services due to the increasingly frequent computer attacks."

Rui Pinto arrest in Budapest put Cabreiro on the map Cabreiro's most prominent operational achievement came in 2019, when he led the operation that located and detained hacker Rui Pinto in Budapest. Rui Pinto, born October 20, 1988, is a Portuguese activist and whistleblower known as the creator of the Football Leaks website, launched in September 2015, as well as the Malta Files and Luanda Leaks revelations. The Budapest operation required cross-border coordination and placed Cabreiro at the center of one of Portugal's most high-profile cybercrime cases. Earlier in his career, between 2005 and 2009, Cabreiro served as deputy national sub-director at the Central Directorate for the Investigation of Corruption and Economic and Financial Criminality, demonstrating a breadth of experience beyond the digital sphere. He also represented the Ministry of Justice on the installation commission of the National Cybersecurity Center in 2012, and in 1995 assumed coordination of the Computer Criminality Investigation Brigade and the National Unit for Information on Organized Economic Crime.

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Outgoing director calls appointment an "excellent choice" for Portugal Luís Neves, who now serves as Minister of Internal Administration, offered an unambiguous endorsement of his successor in remarks to TSF radio. „He is the right person to continue to lead, and lead well, the Judicial Police” — Luís Neves via TSF Rádio Notícias Neves described Cabreiro as both an "excellent person" and an "excellent professional," and said he had no doubt that Cabreiro "will have a great mandate." He added that he was "very happy" for the country with the appointment. Prime Minister Montenegro had signaled earlier on Tuesday, at the close of a meeting of the Superior Council for Internal Security that approved the Annual Internal Security Report for 2025, that the name of the new director would be made public that same day. The appointment marks the formal end of a vacancy that had persisted for over a month following Neves's departure to the government.