A Malaga detective enjoying a family holiday in Belgium could hardly believe his eyes when he spotted a teenage murder suspect walking towards him in the street.
The extraordinary encounter led to the 17-year-old being arrested for a second time over the fatal shooting of an innocent young man in Fuengirola.
The officer, an organised crime investigator based on the Costa del Sol, encountered the teenager in the Belgian city of Ghent in July, reports Diario Sur.
He had just finished dinner and was walking back to his hotel at around 11pm when he stopped to photograph several historic buildings.
After turning around, he noticed a group of teenagers approaching from approximately 10 metres away, and one of their faces was immediately familiar.
It was S., the alleged young hitman whom the officer and his colleagues had previously helped arrest following an exceptionally complex international investigation.
Wrong man allegedly killed
The teenager is suspected of using an assault rifle to repeatedly shoot a young man behind a cannabis club in Fuengirola.
Investigators from the Costa del Sol’s UDYCO organised crime unit believe the killing was commissioned as part of a criminal dispute, but that the gunman and his accomplices targeted the wrong person.
The crime scene was further complicated when a thief reportedly discovered the bullet-riddled body and stole the victim’s belongings.
S. was eventually arrested in Belgium and returned to Spain, where he was placed in a secure juvenile detention centre.
However, Spanish juvenile law only permitted him to remain there provisionally for a maximum of eight months.
The judicial investigation had still not been completed when that period expired, meaning authorities were forced to release him.
He was ordered to remain in Spain and appear before prosecutors whenever summoned. Instead, he disappeared.
The development was a devastating blow for the investigators who had spent months untangling an international contract killing and identifying its alleged perpetrators.
Followed through the streets
Months later, the Malaga officer found himself standing just metres away from the fugitive in Ghent.
He could not arrest him because he was off duty, outside Spain and unaware of any active international warrant.
Instead, he began following the group from a safe distance while discreetly recording videos and taking photographs.
The officer reportedly followed S. for around two kilometres as the teenager and his friends walked towards a neighbourhood on the outskirts of the city.
He then shared the images and location information with his colleagues in Malaga, who initially struggled to believe the extraordinary coincidence.
Arrested within 48 hours
The following day, officers discovered that a court in the Netherlands had just issued a European arrest warrant for S.
The warrant had not yet been formally communicated to the Spanish investigators when their colleague spotted him in Ghent.
The officer contacted Dutch and Belgian counterparts and provided the photographs, videos and a detailed account of the route taken by the teenager.
He also identified surveillance cameras positioned along the streets through which they had walked, allowing Belgian officers to retrace the fugitive’s movements.
Within 48 hours of the chance encounter, S. was arrested again.
This time, he was placed at the disposal of the Dutch court that issued the warrant. Authorities in the Netherlands are now expected to assume control of the murder investigation.
