Was a bungling Beach bank robber set up to fail by his pal back in Portugal?

A Portuguese newspaper is reporting today that Allan Guedes Sharif sent his friend Paulo Almeida on a doomed heist in Miami Beach hoping to get rid of him.

Almeida, 45, was arrested March 27 after he showed up at a Beach bank with a black suitcase and two cellphones. A mysterious voice, believed to be Sharif phoning from overseas, called a teller and demanded she give Almeida $20,000.

The laughable plan landed Almeida behind bars on federal bank robbery charges -- which may be exactly what Sharif wanted, say villagers in their rural corner of Portugual.

The two recently had a falling out, reported Portugal's Diario de Noticias.

Sharif, also known as Joao Paulo Tenreiro Guedes, and his friends stole cars and forged documents, the newspaper said.

"Paulo Almeida was part of that group, " the newspaper quotes a man identified as Manuel M. as saying.

Sharif, 27, was well known in the village of Varzea de Tavares. Few liked him -- but they admitted he was sharp and had a vast knowledge of computers and the Internet, the newspaper reported.

Almeida, a quiet slaughterhouse owner with a strained marriage, was the one who took a liking to the younger man.

Almeida himself was facing criminal trials for fraud and stealing cattle in Portugal.

A national police spokesman also told the newspaper that Sharif had been under surveillance but that investigators lost track of him several months ago.

Neighbors in the town of Varzea de Tavares reported seeing Sharif there last week about the same time as the robbery attempt unfolded in Miami Beach, some 4,000 miles away.

The Diario de Noticias also reported that Sharif, a U.S. citizen, was jailed in Portugual for five months in 2005 for beating up a man with a baseball bat.

Sharif was indicted in 2003 in New York on federal fraud and robbery charges. He has been a federal fugitive ever since.

When the FBI requested extradition, his uncle helped him secure dual Portuguese citizenship, killing any attempt to return him, the newspaper reported.

An FBI spokeswoman Thursday confirmed federal authorities had sought his extradition in 2005.

Investigators are still trying to piece together the days before the robbery.

Almeida first tried coming into this country through New Jersey and was denied entrance.

Three days later he got in through Miami. A day after that, he was arrested in Miami Beach.

Almeida's attorney, Frank Rubino, says Almeida had no idea he was participating in a bank robbery. Almeida, he said, was here on vacation and believed he was merely picking up documents for his friend.

The round, mustachioed man stayed at a mid-Beach Marriott Hotel. He had brought few belongings with him.

Almeida took a taxicab to the bank -- his English was so poor, he gave his cellphone to the cabbie so Sharif could direct him to the bank, Rubino says.

The FBI says Almeida walked in and tried to hand his phone to the teller.

When she refused to take the cell, Sharif called her desk phone, cursed her out and told her to put $20,000 in the black suitcase.

The teller e-mailed a friend, who called police. Another bank employee also called the cops.

A Miami Beach officer arrested Almeida as he sat on a couch in the bank lobby.

The FBI says that the mysterious man repeatedly called the bank, then police, threatening to "kill hostages" if Almeida wasn't released.

The threats shut down mid-Beach for six hours as armed officers searched office buildings for a phantom gunman. Two schools were also locked down.

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