An 'Ndrangheta boss who broke out of
a Montevideo jail two days ago has probably left Uruguay for
Brazil, the online edition of Uruguayan newspaper El Observador
said Wednesday citing police sources.
Calabrian mafia boss Rocco Morabito broke out of the
capital's central prison with three other inmates on Monday.
The interior ministry is yet to comment on the newspaper
report.
El Observador said authorities had viewed CCTV footage of
Montevideo streets and had seen Morabito and the others getting
into a car that set off for Costa de Oro, east of the capital,
heading for the Brazilian border.
They said the footage was shot only 8-9 hours after the jail
break.
Morabito, 53, was awaiting extradition to Italy after being
arrested in a Montevideo hotel in 2017.
He had been a fugitive from Italian justice for 23 years.
In March a court approved his extradition to Italy.
Morabito, who has been sentenced in absentia to 30 years in
jail in Italy, was in the prison's infirmary with his three
accomplices.
They escaped through a tunnel they dug into the roof of the
building, from which they let themselves down on ropes into an
adjacent farm, where they stole money from the women owner,
local sources said.
The boss had tried in various ways to evade extradition to
Italy and had insulted the judge at a recent hearing to try to
get the proceedings suspended.
Uruguayan authorities have sent out an all points bulletin
and have given out a phone number for anyone with useful
information.
Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said Morabito's
escape was "disconcerting and grave".
"I make two vows," he said. "First, to shed full light on how
he escaped, asking for immediate explanation from the government
in Montevideo.
"Second, we will continue to hunt Morabito, wherever he is,
to bang him up in jail as he deserves".
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA
