Spain arrests fugitive after fourth prison escape

Spanish police said they arrested a fugitive in Tarragona who was wanted by Italy under a European arrest warrant after four prison escapes, including a December breakout from a maximum-security prison in Italy.

Spain's National Police said the man escaped from the Italian jail by sawing through window bars and lowering himself with knotted bedsheets. Police said he had previously escaped from prisons in Terni and Parma in Italy and from a Belgian prison, where he used a human pyramid to scale the walls.

Spanish authorities did not identify the man or say why he had been imprisoned. They described him as dangerous.

Police said he resisted arrest and that several people with him tried to intervene, with one allegedly injuring two officers. The fugitive was carrying false identification documents and two 500-euro notes suspected of being counterfeit, police said.

A judge ordered him held in provisional custody without bail pending extradition proceedings to Italy.