The Spanish authorities have arrested another foreign criminal making it the third fugitive from Europol’s most wanted list to be busted in the country in a week.
The wanted man, named as Sherwin Windster by Dutch media, was reportedly serving sentences in the Netherlands for violent armed robberies, including of two jewellery stores. In one of the incidents, the store owner was beaten so badly that he died.
Footage obtained from the Spanish Ministry of the Interior and the National Police on Wednesday, 1st March, shows the fugitive being taken out of a police car in handcuffs and marched into a police station, where he can be seen being sat down in a chair in front of a desk in Murcia in south-eastern Spain.
The Spanish authorities said that they had apprehended the fugitive at a shopping centre that he frequented.
Newsflash obtained a statement from the Spanish authorities saying that the man is wanted by the Dutch authorities after he escaped from custody and fled to Spain.
The wanted man was serving a sentence for two armed robberies in the Netherlands before escaping, with the Dutch authorities offering a EUR 10,000 (GBP 8,877) reward for information leading to the fugitive being apprehended.
The Spanish authorities said that in one of the robberies, the wanted man and his accomplices “beat one of the store owners so violently that he ended up dying as a result of the beatings”.
The Spanish authorities said: “Within the framework of the ENFAST network – European Network of Fugitive Search Teams – the National Police has arrested in Murcia one of the most wanted fugitives in Europe, who was on the list of EUROPOL’s Europe’s Most Wanted Fugitives.
“The arrested man escaped from prison and fled to Spain when he was serving a sentence for two robberies with firearms. In one of the assaults, a person died as a result of the blows inflicted by him and his accomplices. The Dutch authorities offered a reward of EUR 10,000 for any clue related to the fugitive.”
The Spanish authorities explained: “The investigation began in 2022, when the FAST Netherlands team contacted Fast Spain. Given the high degree of danger of the fugitive and the need for immediate intervention with special investigative measures, the entire case was handled within the framework of the European fugitive network ENFAST.”
The Spanish authorities said that the wanted man and his accomplices had robbed a number of jewellery stores in violent attacks. They said: “The case of this fugitive began in 2015 when, along with other accomplices, they robbed two jewellery stores in an extremely violent manner.
“His modus operandi consisted of assaulting the store at gunpoint and gagging its owners while they stole everything. In one of the assaults, a person died as a result of the strong blows they gave him.
“The fugitive was serving a sentence of five years and six months of internment for these crimes in a psychiatric hospital, since he had serious mental disorders. Last June, while he was serving his sentence, he and another inmate convicted of the same acts organised a plan to escape from the psychiatric hospital. Both managed to make a hole in the walls of the place and escape outside, where a vehicle was waiting for them to quickly flee the place.
“A week later the police arrested his partner, but the fugitive had already managed to flee to our country, becoming an international fugitive and included in the ENFAST and EUROPOL list of Europe’s Most Wanted Fugitives.”
The Spanish authorities added: “In Spain, an intense investigation began immediately, focused from the outset on the province of Murcia, since the fugitive’s network of contacts coincided with several municipalities adjacent to this town.
“After five months of investigation and close cooperation between the two countries, with daily exchange of information through the Dutch link in Spain, the shopping centre that the fugitive frequented was determined, as well as the high probability that he attended it.
“Covering the entrances and exits of the shopping centre and warning the agents about the extreme violence of the fugitive, a large device was organized with more than eight policemen who quickly proceeded to arrest him, without giving him any opportunity to carry out any escape manoeuvre.”
The arrest is the third of its kind in the last week, with the Spanish authorities arresting two other fugitives who were on Europol’s most wanted list.
Last Monday, the Croatian Josip Mihajlovic, 27, who had been on the run since 2019, was arrested in a hotel lobby in Madrid, as can be seen in other images obtained from the Spanish authorities.
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.
Last Friday, the Civil Guard said that they had arrested Petrisor Lupu, a Romanian organised crime boss, in the municipality of Vilafant, in north-eastern Spain’s Catalonia region.