A RUSSIAN mafia gang member has been detained in Torrevieja on a European Arrest Warrant after behaving suspiciously in front of Guardia Civil officers.
A court in Gerona, Italy sentenced the 37-year-old Moldovan national to 11 years behind bars in March 2022 for international criminal conspiracy, but he fled the country.
The man was a member of the VOR V ZAKONE Russian criminal organisation which specialised in crimes against people through violence, threats and intimidation.
GUARDIA BARRACKS, TORREVIEJA
He was arrested on February 28, but details were only made public on Thursday.
A Guardia Civil patrol spotted three people on a bar-restaurant terrace and noticed that one of them tried to hide when he saw the officers.
His behaviour prompted them to ask for some identification and he produced a fake Romanian passport.
After determining it was forged, he was arrested and taken to the Guardia barracks in Torrevieja where his real identity was revealed via his fingerprints.
The Guardia Civil said the man had spent the last three years hiding in Spain using bogus identity papers to avoid being caught.
Their investigation however remains active as they check whether or not he maintained his criminal activities in the country.
He was jailed by a Torrevieja court, pending extradition proceedings.
