RIMINI – A 34-year-old Albanian citizen, wanted to serve a final sentence for drug-related crimes, was arrested on October 22 at Madrid-Barajas airport, in Spain. The man had been on the run since 2015 and had changed his identity, also obtaining a new Albanian passport, to avoid capture.
The arrest was carried out by the Spanish police during a border control, in implementation of a European arrest warrant aimed at subsequent surrender to the Italian authorities.
The operation is the result of the collaboration between the Flying Squad of Rimini, the Central Operations Service and the Service for International Police Cooperation, as part of the “Wanted 3” project, dedicated to the search for fugitives also abroad. The investigators managed to reconstruct the new identity of the wanted man and identify useful elements to locate him outside the national borders.
The man was involved in the “Moon Light” anti-drug investigation, conducted by the Rimini Flying Squad, which had brought to light a criminal context dedicated to the possession and dealing of large quantities of drugs, in particular cocaine and hashish.
On 10 October 2012, during the execution of the precautionary measures ordered as part of the investigation, the Albanian citizen was arrested together with ten other Italian and foreign people. On that occasion he was found in possession of approximately one kilogram of heroin.
On 19 February 2019, the Public Prosecutor’s Office at the Court of Rimini issued an arrest warrant against him for a residual sentence of 6 years, 10 months and 8 days in prison, as well as a fine of 64,000 euros.
Untraceable on the national territory since 2015, the man had been the subject of international searches which continued over the years thanks to the work of the Rimini investigators and the Central Operations Service. The arrest in Spain will now allow the procedures for his surrender to the Italian authorities to begin.
