Story By:  Ana Marjanovic, Sub-Editor: Michael Leidig, Agency:  Newsflash

A brutal mafia boss released from custody two years ago by mistake has been recaptured after a routine police traffic stop.

Mobster Vittorio Raso is a high-ranking member of the ruthless ‘Ndrangheta crime syndicate based in southern Italy.

He was arrested in Spain in 2020 on a warrant from Italian police, who wanted him for organised crime, extortion and drug trafficking.

But he had been missing since he was freed by the National Court of Spain after a mixup regarding his original arrest warrant.

Now Raso, 43, is back behind bars after his car was stopped in Castelldefels during a routine documents check by Spanish police on 21st June.

Raso’s forged papers were soon revealed as fakes, and he was arrested and fingerprinted to confirm his true identity.

Pictures of the arrest show Raso smiling broadly at his police captors.

He was handed to the Mossos d’Esquadra – the police force of Spain’s Catalonia region – and remains in custody at the police station in nearby Gava.

Raso – nicknamed ‘Exhausted’ – is expected to appear in court today (Thursday).

Engaged in racketeering, drug trafficking, loan-sharking, weapons trafficking, money laundering, fraud, extortion, murder, robbery and kidnapping, the ‘Ndrangheta is considered to be among the most powerful organised crime groups in the world.