One of the ‘most wanted’ criminals in Europe arrested in a shopping center in Murcia in Spain

A violent Dutch fugitive who escaped from a court-ordered mental institution in June 2021 has been arrested in a shopping center in the city of Murcia.

Sherwin W was on Europol’s most wanted refugee list and was serving 66 months in prison in Nijmegen.

He also received psychiatric treatment following his 2019 conviction for two counts of extortion and an armed robbery where the victim died.

Sherwin W, and another inmate convicted of the same crimes, punched a hole in the wall of the medical center and escaped with a car waiting outside.

Dutch authorities have offered a 10,000-euro reward for information relating to the whereabouts of the 27-year-old fugitive, after his colleague was recaptured within a week.

A specialized fugitive squad from the Dutch police tracked Sherwin W to the city of Murcia, where he had several acquaintances who lived in municipalities near the regional capital.

The National Police were alerted and spent five months with their Dutch counterparts trying to track him down, exchanging information on a daily basis.

The net tightened with a report that the man was in a Murcia shopping center and officers rushed to the scene to block all exits with eight of them handling the arrest.

The Netherlands Prosecutor’s Office has submitted an extradition request to the National Court of Madrid, which currently has Sherwin W.