Police in Spain have arrested a man known as the 'escape wizard' who had previously managed to flee from four prisons in different countries, reports infohub.kz.
According to The Guardian, the arrested man is an Albanian criminal who in the past sawed through bars, climbed down tied sheets, and even used a 'human pyramid' to break through prison walls. He carried out escapes in Italy and Belgium.
Officers of the National Police discovered that he was living in the city of Tarragona in northeastern Spain. He was subject to a European arrest warrant issued by Italian authorities.
Spanish police identified the man by the initials TT, which match those of Tom Taulant, an Albanian citizen known in Italian media as the 'escape master' and 'escape wizard'.
Before escaping from a high-security prison in Milan eight months ago, he was serving a sentence that was due to end in 2048 for a string of crimes including violent robbery, theft, and drug trafficking.
'It sounds like a movie plot, but sometimes reality is stranger than fiction. He escaped from prison in Terni in 2009, from prison in Parma in 2013, and from a Belgian prison the same year using a 'human pyramid'. His latest escape, in December 2025, came after he managed to flee a high-security prison in Italy by sawing through bars and climbing out a window using tied sheets,' said a statement from the National Police, which called him an 'escape master'.
At the same time, the man was accompanied by several of his compatriots who tried to prevent his arrest, including one man who struck and wounded two police officers.
During the arrest, the man was found with fake identity documents, which showed he had a criminal record in the Catalan city of Girona for possession of weapons and explosives. He was also found with two 500-euro notes, allegedly counterfeit, which were sent to the Bank of Spain for investigation.