A dramatic police operation in Tarragona (Catalonia) has ended the latest spell on the run for a notorious criminal known as the ‘Master of Escapes’, whose history includes prison breaks in Italy and Belgium dating back more than 15 years.
Spain’s National Police tracked the wanted man to the Campclar neighbourhood of the Catalan city, where his arrest turned into a violent confrontation involving several other people. Two officers were injured during the operation, while a crowd gathered in the street and began confronting police.
The fugitive, who has been described by police as ‘very dangerous’, was being sought by the Italian authorities under a European Arrest Warrant (EAW). He had been at large since December 2025, following his latest escape from a maximum-security prison in Italy.
On that occasion, he managed to cut through the bars of a window and then used bedsheets tied together to lower himself from the building.
It was his fourth known escape from prison.
His extraordinary record of breaking out of custody began in 2009, when he escaped from a prison in Terni, Italy. After eventually being recaptured, he escaped twice more in 2013: first from a prison in Parma and later from another in Belgium, where he reportedly used a human pyramid to help scale the walls.
Dramatic arrest in Tarragona
The National Police themselves likened the case to something from a film.
‘It sounds like something out of a movie, but sometimes reality is stranger than fiction,’ police said in a statement issued on Wednesday.
Investigators from Tarragona’s Judicial Police Brigade had received information indicating that the fugitive could be living in Campclar and launched an operation to find him.
When officers attempted to make the arrest, however, police said the man put up strong resistance. He was also accompanied by ‘several of his compatriots’, some of whom allegedly attempted to prevent officers from detaining him.
One of the group is accused of attacking two police officers, leaving both injured, according to local media,
At the same time, a sizeable crowd began gathering in the street and confronting the officers. With their priority being to secure the wanted fugitive, police decided against making further arrests at the scene.
The alleged attacker was subsequently identified and is now awaiting arrest on suspicion of an assault on law-enforcement officers.
False identity and suspected counterfeit €500 notes
The case took another turn after the fugitive was taken into police custody.
Officers discovered that the identification documents he had presented were false, resulting in an additional suspected offence of document forgery. The documents were subsequently sent to Tarragona’s Provincial Scientific Police Brigade for examination.
Further checks produced another potentially significant connection: police said the false identity had previously featured in police records in Girona in a case involving the possession of weapons and explosives.
Officers also seized two €500 banknotes found among the fugitive’s possessions after noticing indications that they could be counterfeit. The notes have been sent to the Bank of Spain’s specialist investigation unit for analysis.
The man was subsequently brought before a judge, who ordered that he be remanded in custody without bail.
He is now being held at Mas d’Enric prison in El Catllar, in the Tarragona province, while proceedings concerning his extradition to Italy are resolved.
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Detenido en Tarragona el ‘Maestro de las Fugas’, que escapó 4 veces de varias cárceles europeas https://t.co/xZ6W6sF4Z3
— Europa Press Catalunya (@EPCatalunya) August 26, 2026
La Policía Nacional ha detenido en Tarragona a uno de los fugitivos más buscados por la justicia italiana, conocido como el ‘Maestro de las Fugas’ por haber conseguido escapar de prisión hasta en cuatro ocasioneshttps://t.co/QqfeAedZ5C
— Diari de Tarragona (@diaridtarragona) August 26, 2026
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