One of the most wanted fugitives in Europe had lived in Tarragona for 15 years

One of the most wanted criminals in Europe has been arrested in Deltebre (Tarragona), where this alleged human trafficker had been residing for more than 15 years and had set up a prosperous real estate business, as reported this morning by the Spanish police. The man, whose identity has not been provided, has yet to serve a ten-year prison sentence in Romania for trafficking minors and was arrested when the sentences imposed on him in 2009 were about to expire. When he committed the crimes, he fled and settled in Spain. Now the criminal, who had been included in the Europol list of the most wanted and elusive criminals in each country, has been placed in a Spanish prison by the judicial authority, awaiting a decision on his surrender to the authorities of Bucharest.

The arrest took place on the 29th in the aforementioned Tarragona town, with about 12,000 inhabitants, after information was learned on January 26 that the wanted man was hiding in the lands of the Bajo Ebro region. The man had a valid a European Arrest and Surrender Order (OEDE) as the material perpetrator of the crimes of human trafficking, trafficking of minors and two crimes against people.

The order was issued in 2009, after he was convicted by a court in the Romanian town of Alba. His name was included in the list of the 66 most wanted people in Europe included in the Europe's Most Wanted website, belonging to Europol (European Union agency on police matters), where criminals with old crimes, with long escapes or those whose crimes were about to expire were registered. No reward was offered for his capture.

The wanted man had arrived in Spain shortly after the conviction and since then had resided in Deltebre, with false documentation. With the data provided by the Romanian police, National Police agents in collaboration with the Local Police, located the fugitive on January 29, “who had been living in this town for 15 years under another identity and ran a business as a real estate advisor without “No one around him would suspect that he was hiding a past of these characteristics,” according to a police note released this morning.

Now he was about to be free of charges, since in the coming months the prescription of the sentences in Romania that fell on the fugitive and who had pending to serve a 10-year prison sentence was going to become effective.