A 38-year-old was arrested in southern Italy on Saturday after the town's mayor spotted him posing as a statue in a Christmas nativity scene. The man was wanted for assaulting a police officer and had escaped a prison sentence in Bologna.
A fugitive was arrested in southern Italy on Saturday after attempting to evade police by posing as a statue in a town's Christmas nativity scene.
The 38-year-old man from Ghana was discovered in Galatone, in the Puglia region, by the town's Mayor Flavio Filoni who was passing by the display in Piazza Santissimo Crocifisso.
"While I was standing before the nativity scene, lovingly crafted by our Pro Loco, I noticed something I'd initially mistaken for part of the scene," Filoni wrote on Facebook. "A detail that seemed innocuous, but it turned out to be crucial."
The mayor initially considered contacting organisers to congratulate them on the lifelike figure, but upon closer inspection realised it was a real person.
Filoni called another town official to persuade the man to leave the nativity scene. The man reportedly resisted and claimed the nativity scene was his home, according to local media outlet LeccePrima.
Local police, state police and Carabinieri quickly arrived and identified the man as a wanted fugitive.
The man had escaped a nine-month and 15-day prison sentence in Bologna for resisting a public official and aggravated assault, according to reports.
"Thanks to the prompt intervention of our local police, state police, and Carabinieri, it was possible to track down and identify a fugitive and wanted person," Filoni said.
The mayor thanked police for their work, adding that the incident confirmed "how essential it is to place full trust in the daily work of those who guarantee safety and legality".
Galatone, a town of around 15,400 people located 26 kilometres from Lecce, is in southern Puglia's Salento region.