SPAIN:Portuguese police have arrested the man they believe is Spain's most wanted criminal in a joint operation with Spanish security forces.
The man, known as El Solitario - the Loner - was detained in a dramatic operation in the Portuguese seaside resort of Figueras da Foz, 140kms north of Porto as he was about to rob a local bank.
In a criminal career spanning more than a dozen years, The Loner killed three policemen and held up 36 banks. His modus operandi was always to work alone and to disguise himself with a scruffy black wig, a bushy beard and occasionally a woollen hat.
Joan Mesquida, the director general of Police and Civil Guard, yesterday named El Solitario as 51-year-old Jaime Jiménez Arbe, a man with no police record, who lived in a respectable middle- class suburb of Madrid where he told neighbours he ran an air conditioning company.
Mr Mesquida thanked the Portuguese police for their co-operation. He said that the case had been particularly sensitive for the Civil Guard, since two of their men were among The Loner's victims when they were shot dead in Navarra three years ago as they attempted to search his car.
The booty from his robberies was not spectacular; the largest haul was some €100,000. In his most recent robbery, just two months ago, he got away with €6,000 by holding up a savings bank in Zamora de Toro and shot a bank clerk in the leg.
"This is to warn you to have more cash next time I come in," he snarled as he left.
The CCTV images of some of his recent robberies were, in spite of his disguises, sufficiently clear to distinguish his facial features and put Spanish police on his track. They traced him to Portugal last week and tipped off Portuguese police with the warning that he was dangerous and would not hesitate to shoot.
Indeed, when The Loner realised he was surrounded in the bank on Monday he attempted to draw a gun but was overpowered before he could use it. He was found to be carrying two pistols and a machine gun in a sports bag.
Mr Mesquida said that a total of €600,000 in cash was found in The Loner's chalet near Madrid and in a nearby rented warehouse where police also discovered weapons, ammunition and documents detailing his past robberies and plans for future ones.
Spanish interior minister Arturo Perez Rubalcaba, was in Portugal on Monday for discussions with his Portuguese counterpart. He thanked Portuguese police and said: "He is a very dangerous man - our most wanted criminal."