An investigation by the international website Bellingcat, cited by SIC Notícias, concluded that Isabel dos Santos stopped traveling as of November 18, the day on which it was reported that a red alert had been issued for her arrest, at the request of the Angolan authorities.

SIC and Expresso had exclusive access to the work of the organization, which specializes in verifying data in open sources. Using various forensic techniques, including geo-locating photographs and videos and comparing them with images available on the internet, Bellingcat concluded that Isabel dos Santos has been permanently in Dubai, where she owns a luxurious apartment in an exclusive Bulgari condominium, built on an artificial island.

In the last two and a half months, the Angolan businesswoman, who also has Russian nationality, has only left the United Arab Emirates once, on December 13, to watch Argentina-Croatia at the World Cup in Qatar.

Founded by an English journalist and based in the Netherlands, the Bellingcat has collaborators all over the world, including in Portugal, who follow lines of investigation in cases of human, animal or environmental rights violations, as well as armed conflicts.

Isabel dos Santos is a suspect in several criminal cases, both in Portugal and Angola, following the so-called Luanda Leaks, a leak of more than 700,000 documents revealed three years ago by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, in which Expresso and SIC participated.