El Piojo Recaptured After Crashing Stolen Car Into Police During Curfew

The notorious El Piojo fugitive who escaped from jail has been caught after he crashed a stolen sports car into two police vehicles during a high-speed chase in curfew hours, injuring five officers.

Jonathan Moniz Alcaide, 31, alias ‘El Piojo’  was detained in the district of La Latina in central Madrid, at 9pm yesterday.

The police said they spotted the wanted criminal driving a stolen Alfa Romeo sports car through the capital during the curfew imposed to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

A high-speed chase ensued and ended with El Piojo crashing the sports car into two police vehicles, after which he was apprehended at the scene.

Police sources told the newspaper El Pais that five officers were injured in the collision, suffering multiple contusions, a cervical strain, and face injuries.

El Piojo and his brother Miguel Angel, who reportedly specialised in theft and robberies, were arrested last March but escaped from prison.

The brothers are believed to have handcrafted a key that allowed them and one other prisoner to get into a warehouse where their possessions were being kept.

Afterwards, the three individuals cut through the metal bars on a warehouse window and were able to climb onto the building roof and scale down the seven-metre (23-foot) high security perimeter.

The authorities had been tracking the brothers since their escape and were certain that the pair had not been able to flee the country.

El Piojo made the mistake of driving the stolen vehicle during curfew, allowing the authorities to recapture him.

He was arrested not so far from his home town El Ventorro de la Punala, located six miles south of Madrid, where he grew up in poor conditions with his seven siblings.

Reports said his brother still remains at large.