Italian fugitive arrested in Tarragona after escaping from four prisons, including maximum-security facility
The National Police arrested on 23 August the so-called 'master of escapes', sought by Italian justice and wanted following his prison escape in December 2025.
Italian fugitive arrested in Tarragona after escaping from four prisons
The National Police has arrested in Tarragona a dangerous fugitive wanted by Italian justice, known as the 'master of escapes', according to a report on Wednesday by Google News ES — Crime (es). The man had managed to escape from four different prisons, most recently in December 2025, when he sawed through the bars of an Italian maximum-security prison and descended down the façade using knotted sheets.
The arrest took place on Sunday 23 August in a neighbourhood of Tarragona, where the fugitive was residing. His identity has not been officially revealed. During the operation, the detainee put up strong resistance, and several compatriots accompanying him attempted to obstruct the police intervention. One of them struck two officers before fleeing amid the large crowd of people gathered on the public thoroughfare.
That companion has been identified and is pending arrest on a charge of assault against law enforcement officers. Once at police headquarters, the 'master of escapes' identified himself using false documentation, which adds a charge of document forgery to his record. Under that fictitious identity, he already had a police record in Girona for possession of weapons and explosives.
The judge has ordered his detention in incommunicado provisional custody without bail at Mas Enric prison in El Catllar (Tarragona), pending the processing of his extradition to Italy.
The detainee's escape record spans more than fifteen years. In 2009 he escaped from a prison in Terni; in 2013 he fled from Parma prison and, that same year, managed to escape from a Belgian penitentiary by scaling its walls with the help of a human pyramid. The latest escape, in December 2025, occurred at an Italian maximum-security prison, where he used a saw to cut through the window bars before descending with sheets.
Source: Google News ES — Crime (es)