Spanish police arrest Albanian prison escapee Toma Taulant in Tarragona

Operation and capture in Tarragona

Spanish National Police arrested 42-year-old Albanian national Toma Taulant in the northeastern city of Tarragona under a European arrest warrant issued by Italian authorities. Known across Italian media as the escape wizard, Taulant had relocated to Catalonia in January 2026, roughly one month after breaking out of a Milanese facility. Officers from the Economic and Fiscal Crime Unit (UDEF) in Tarragona directed the operation, tracking the fugitive through the Campclar neighbourhood over several days of intensive surveillance. Officers confirmed his identity against Europol notices using physical descriptions, visible tattoos, and a prominent facial scar before executing the operation. Spanish authorities announced the detention on 26 August, following the operation conducted days earlier.

Violent confrontation and seized evidence

The arrest unfolded when officers intercepted Taulant travelling inside a Volkswagen Golf alongside four Albanian compatriots. As police moved to detain the fugitive, Taulant mounted strong and active resistance against the arresting team. One passenger intervened to block the detention, striking and injuring two police officers before fleeing into a nearby crowd, while three other passengers escaped on foot. Law enforcement officers continue to search for the fleeing assailant. At the scene, officers recovered a Sig Sauer handgun that witnesses reported seeing thrown into nearby bushes during the struggle. Investigators found false identity documents on Taulant that linked him to a previous police file in Girona for illegal possession of weapons and explosives, as well as two suspected counterfeit 500-euro banknotes that authorities forwarded to the Bank of Spain for forensic verification.

Four prison escapes across Italy and Belgium

The operation brought to an end an eight-month international manhunt triggered on 7 December 2025, when Taulant escaped from the Opera maximum-security prison near Milan. During that escape, he sawed through the iron bars of his cell window and lowered himself to the ground using knotted bedsheets. The breakout was his fourth successful escape from penal institutions in two European countries over a 16-year span. He first broke out of a prison in the Umbrian city of Terni in 2009, followed by an escape from a detention facility in Parma in 2013. Later that same year, after being detained in Belgium, he escaped from the Lantin penitentiary by scaling an external perimeter wall with the assistance of a human pyramid formed by fellow inmates.

Spanish police addressed the escape history in an official release:

It sounds like something out of a film, but sometimes reality is stranger than fiction.

Extradition proceedings and pending sentence

Prior to his escape from Milan, Taulant was serving a prison term scheduled to conclude in 2048, having been convicted in Italy on charges including armed robbery, theft, and illicit drug trafficking. Following his capture in Tarragona, a Spanish judge rejected a bail request and ordered Taulant remanded in provisional detention without bail at the Mas d'Enric prison. He is currently held in custody in Tarragona awaiting the completion of judicial proceedings for his extradition back to Italy to serve out his remaining sentence.