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A fugitive was arrested in southern Italy on Saturday after trying to evade police by disguising himself as a statue at the town’s Christmas Nativity scene.
The 38-year-old man from Ghana was discovered in Garatone, Puglia, by the town’s mayor, Flavio Filoni, who was passing by an exhibition in Piazza Santissimo Crocifisso.
“As I stood in front of the Nativity scene that our Pro Loco lovingly crafted, I realized that I had initially mistaken it for part of the scene,” Filoni wrote on Facebook. “It was a seemingly innocuous detail that turned out to be important.”
The mayor initially thought of contacting the organizers to congratulate the lifelike figure, but upon closer inspection, he realized it was a real person.
Filoni called another town official and persuaded the man to leave the Nativity. According to local media outlet Lecce Prima, the man resisted and claimed the Nativity scene as his home.
Local police, state police and the Carabinieri quickly arrived and identified the man as a wanted fugitive.
According to reports, the man was spared nine months and 15 days in prison for resisting a public servant and aggravated assault in Bologna.
“Thanks to the quick intervention of local police, state police and the Carabinieri, it was possible to track down and identify the fugitive and the wanted man,” Filoni said.
The mayor thanked the police for their work, adding that the incident confirmed “how important it is to have full trust in the daily work of those who ensure safety and legality.”
Garatone is a town of approximately 15,400 people, 26 kilometers from Lecce, in the Salento region of southern Puglia.
