Europol’s Most Wanted Fugitive Arrested In Madrid
The Spanish authorities have released video footage of one of Europol’s most wanted fugitives being arrested in a Madrid hotel.
The footage shows the moment the man, who has been named as Josip Mihajlovic, 27, by Croatian media, is arrested. He can be seen on his phone in the hotel lobby waiting for a lift when three plainclothes police officers suddenly enter and detain him.
They can be seen handcuffing Mihajlovic with him lying on his stomach on the floor.
They can be seen eventually lifting him to his feet before escorting him out of the hotel lobby.
The fugitive is said to be from Croatia and is wanted for serious crimes back home where he reportedly faces life imprisonment.
One of the crimes Mihajlovic, who is from Zagreb, is accused of is the attempted murder of a taxi driver named as Antun Cristan M., 30, in Dubrovnik in 2019, along with accomplice Maria Barisic, 25.
He also allegedly attempted to murder another man with a firearm in Croatia and got into a fight with a person who suffered broken bones and lost teeth.
The arrest reportedly took place on Monday, 20th February at an unnamed hotel in Madrid.
Newsflash obtained a statement from the Spanish National Police on Monday, 27th February, saying: “In an operation within the framework of the ENFAST network, the National Police detains in Madrid a fugitive wanted by the Croatian authorities for violent crimes.
“The arrested man had a legal claim issued for events that occurred in 2019, where he was involved in a fight in which he caused serious injuries to his victim.
“The fugitive was included in Europol’s European Most Wanted list, and he was arrested in a central Madrid hotel when he went to meet his partner.”
The Spanish authorities added: “Agents of the National Police, within the framework of the ENFAST network -European Network of Fugitive Search Teams-, have arrested a fugitive of Croatian origin with a very violent profile in Madrid. Wanted by the authorities of his country, he was involved in serious crimes that caused great social alarm in the Baltic country and for which he faces life imprisonment.
The detainee was claimed for events dating back to mid-2019, when he was in a disco in Croatia and was involved in a brawl in which he brutally beat another person who suffered fractures and lost teeth.”
The authorities said that the fugitive has an “extensive criminal history”, adding: “This criminal action joins the authorship of other serious criminal acts for which he was being investigated and for which he had even already gone to prison. In addition, a month before these events, he had tried to assassinate another man in his country of origin with a firearm.
“The fugitive was on Europol’s European Most Wanted list and his location was dealt with within the framework of international police collaboration and cooperation through the ENFAST network for the search for fugitives.
“The investigations of the agents centred the fugitive in the east of our country, determining that he had spent a large part of last Christmas on the island of Ibiza and from where he later moved to Barcelona.
“The National Police investigators found out that he had met his partner in a central Madrid hotel on 20th February, taking advantage of the surprise factor and taking extreme security measures to arrest the fugitive. Among his belongings, falsified documentation was found with which he intended to evade police actions and avoid being discovered.”
