One of Europe's most wanted criminals has been arrested in Deltebre, Tarragona, where the suspected human trafficker had lived for more than 15 years and built a thriving real estate business, Spanish police reported this morning. The man, whose identity has not been released, is still serving a 10-year prison sentence in Romania for human trafficking and was arrested as his sentence in 2009 was about to expire. When he committed the crimes, he fled and settled in Spain. Now the criminal, who was included in Europol's list of the most wanted and elusive criminals in each country, has been placed by the judicial authority in a Spanish prison, where he is awaiting a decision on his handover to the Bucharest authorities.
More information
The arrest took place on the 29th in the aforementioned city of Tarragona, with about 12,000 inhabitants, after it became known on January 26th that the wanted man was hiding in the areas of the Bajo Ebro region. The man had a valid European Arrest and Surrender Order (OEDE) as a material perpetrator of the crimes of human trafficking, human trafficking and two crimes against people.
The order was issued in 2009 after he was convicted by a court in the Romanian city of Alba. His name was included in the list of the 66 most wanted people in Europe, included on the website “Europe's Most Wanted”, which belongs to Europol (European Union Agency for Police Affairs) and tracks criminals with old crimes, with long escape routes or those whose Crimes committed were about to expire. No reward was offered for his capture.
The wanted man arrived in Spain shortly after the conviction and had been living in Deltebre with false documents ever since. Using data provided by the Romanian police, National Police agents, in collaboration with local police, were able to locate the fugitive on January 29, “who had been living in this city for 15 years under a different identity and who, without this identity, was running a business as a real estate consultant “No one around him would suspect that he had hidden these characteristics in the past,” said a police statement released this morning.
What influences the most is what happens next. So you don't miss anything, subscribe.
Subscribe to
Now he was about to be released, as in the coming months the statute of limitations would come into force in Romania on the sentences imposed on the refugee, who was facing a ten-year prison sentence.