The 16-year-old, who was accompanied by two friends, all of whom were under the age of 18, allegedly bought the alcohol to take on a night out in the city.
He used a fake ID to make the purchase, which identified the teen as being 19 and was reportedly bought over the internet in the youth’s country of origin.
The arrest took place on Monday afternoon after officers spotted the teens in the store and became suspicious, “given that the group looked fairly young and could be committing a possible offence.”
A new drinking law – Decree-law 106/2015 – came into force in Portugal on 1 July and bans all under-18’s from consuming or buying alcohol.
Until the start of this month over-16’s were allowed to drink softer spirits, namely beer and wine.
A statement from the GNR explained: “After making the purchase of several bottles of liquor the individuals were approached outside the establishment and it was found, after identification, that none of them were of the legally-established age to make the acquisition.”
A photo from the GNR showed the teen had bought three bottles of Bacardi and one bottle of Malibu.
The GNR explained further probing undertaken with the shop revealed that the teen had used documentation to buy the drink that identified him as being 19.
In a bid to rid himself of the offending document the boy had reportedly attempted to throw it away, but officers recovered the fake ID, which confirmed the transgression.
In related news, a Swiss national with an international warrant pending for his arrest was intercepted by GNR officers in a supermarket in Lagoa.
The interception took place on Thursday last week, around lunchtime, when officers were called to an attempted shop-lifting at a supermarket in Parchal, Lagoa.
A statement from the GNR said upon the officers’ arrival they found that a “foreign citizen”, who The Portugal News later established as being Swiss, had tried to pass through a check-out counter with food and without having paid for it.
After running checks on the foreigner, including on the Schengen database, officers discovered an international arrest warrant had been issued at the end of March for the individual’s arrest and extradition.
The warrant was reportedly issued for crimes against heritage and drug trafficking.