"The searches by the inactivation section [of explosives] have now ended, no explosive device has been found and at around 5:15pm (28 January) the shopping centre reopened," Major Abel Adriano, from the GNR told Lusa.

At the time of the evacuation, "about 300 people were in the shopping centre, mostly workers from the shopping centre".

The same source had previously told Lusa that teams from the GNR's explosives inactivation section were inspecting Algarve Shopping, after an anonymous bomb threat made by telephone forced the authorities to evacuate the building.

The Faro Command official indicated that the alert was received at 14:55 and, at 16:15, the operation of the explosives inactivation teams was still in progress to confirm the threat.

The veracity of the bomb threat would eventually be ruled out by the inspection that the GNR intervention detachment, namely the explosives inactivation section, carried out at the shopping centre.

Major Abel Adriano also said that the investigation into the authorship of the false bomb threat had been passed to the PJ.