Dangerous hitman escapes from Alcalá Meco prison during Christmas visits

A security lapse occurred at the Alcalá Meco prison in Madrid last Saturday when a dangerous hitman, 20-year-old Spanish national Yusef M. L. from Ceuta, managed to escape. Yusef, already accused of two murders in recent months, took advantage of the crowded Christmas visits to make his getaway.

He was arrested in April at the Port of Algeciras and transferred to Alcalá Meco on December 3rd, but successfully managed to escape from the prison unnoticed on Saturday afternoon, and his absence was only detected later in the evening. According to prison sources, Yusef blended in with groups of family members visiting other inmates and himself.

The question remains as to how the fugitive eluded the surveillance of the prison staff and reached the common areas reserved for visitors leaving the prison after family meetings. In that part of the Alcalá Meco prison, managed by the Ministry of the Interior, surveillance is "extreme" as it is one of the most critical points in the facility's security.

Yusef M., also known as 'El Pastilla,' was in preventive custody as the alleged perpetrator of at least two murders. The first occurred on October 6th, 2022, when he, on behalf of the gang leader Nayim K. A. 'Tayena,' mistakenly targeted a 26-year-old man in the El Saladillo neighbourhood of Algeciras, thinking he belonged to a rival group, the 'Piolín.'

'El Pastilla,' riding a motorcycle, shot the victim three times at close range, fatally piercing one of his lungs. The victim, a father of two and a port worker in Algeciras had no connections to the criminal gangs. His only fault was driving a car similar to a criminal that 'Tayena' wanted revenge on.

The second murder took place on April 12th of this year when the hitman betrayed his boss and shot 'Tayena' almost point-blank in the abdomen as he left his home in Los Cortijillos, Los Barrios, also in the province of Cádiz. Yusef was captured that same evening in Algeciras as he attempted to board the ferry to his native Ceuta to hide after this second murder, also carried out on behalf of someone else.

Apart from these two murders, 'El Pastilla' is being investigated in numerous shootouts between gangs vying for control of drug trafficking on the outskirts of Ceuta.

It was precisely these conflicts with rival gangs that led the General Secretariat of Penitentiary Institutions to transfer him from the Algeciras prison of Botafuegos, where he was threatened by local mafia groups, to Alcalá Meco in December.

The errors that led to the hitman's escape are even more inexplicable, according to sources from the centre, considering that the young man was in prison under the FIES 5 regime, one of the most restrictive.