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Scouser on holiday arrested after being mistaken for Europe’s most wanted mafia boss
His lawyer said it would have been ‘a genius of an Italian to have such a strong Liverpool accent’
A Liverpool man was hooded, handcuffed and arrested by Dutch police after being mistaken for one of the most wanted criminals in the world.
The man, named publicly as ‘Mark’ by his lawyers, was enjoying a spot of lunch with his son in the Hague last Wednesday, September 8th, after travelling to The Netherlands to watch the Formula 1 Grand Prix at Zandvoort, according to Dutch public broadcaster NOS.
There, however, the bewildered F1 fan was arrested, blindfolded and bundled away by the police, who reportedly had their weapons drawn. He remained in a maximum security prison until last Saturday, while his identity was checked by Italian authorities.
Italian Police Handout
According to reports, the Scouser was arrested after police mistook him for Matteo Messina Denaro, an Italian mafia lord who is suspected of several murders – including the slaying of two judges – and has been on the run since 1993.
A computer aged photofit shows what the police suspect Denaro to look like since his disappearance nearly three decades ago, and has been widely circulated by both Italian and Dutch media outlets.
The man’s lawyer Leon van Kleef said, as per The Telegraph: “Sometimes in the practise of law things that might go quick take ages. The press release has helped but it took three days.
“I went to the press in the hope of speeding things up because normally it’s a matter of time. You can imagine. He had anger and disbelief and laughter. Because it is ludicrous. He is a normal Formula One fan.
Pxfuel
“I was always convinced he was not it. It would have been a genius of an Italian to have such a strong Liverpool accent.”
The lawyer added that his client doesn’t want to be publicly identified and will not be commenting further on the case.
Meanwhile, a spokeswoman for the Public Prosecutor’s Office said the arrested man stated he was ‘an English citizen and not the person claimed by Italy’. She said: “The outcome of the investigation, which was conducted via an accelerated procedure, turned out to be negative.
“The public prosecutor then issued an immediate release order.”