The man who was arrested this week in a restaurant in The Hague for being a notorious Italian mafia boss is innocent. The Public Prosecution Service has announced that the man has become the victim of a mistaken identity, as his lawyer had already argued.
The man was arrested by officers on Wednesday afternoon with guns drawn blindfolded from the restaurant, the restaurant owner told Het Parool yesterday. It would have been 59-year-old Matteo Messina Denaro, who is seen as the boss of the mafia in Sicily.
Denaro is suspected of multiple murders. He has been in hiding since 1993 and Italy has issued a European arrest warrant for him.
Formula 1
The detainee’s lawyer immediately said that there had been a mistake. His client is a 54-year-old Formula 1 fan from Liverpool, he assured. The Englishman is said to have attended the grand prix in Zandvoort and has remained in the Netherlands ever since.
Yesterday, the man’s detention was extended, because the investigation into his identity was not yet finished. That investigation has now been completed, and it has turned out that he is not the person Italy is looking for. The prosecutor has ordered that he be released immediately.
It is unclear what went wrong. A spokesman for the Public Prosecution Service says the man was arrested at the request of the Italian authorities. “If they say: you must have that person, then we will pick him up. Those are mutual agreements.”
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