One of world’s most wanted men found... working in Subway
Branch is where police go to buy their lunch!
ONE of Interpol’s most wanted men was found working in a sandwich shop just a few hundred yards from a police headquarters.
Suspected murderer Piotr Kupiec, 28, was arrested at a branch of Subway popular with police officers at lunchtime.
He had been hiding in ‘ plain sight’ after fleeing Poland in the wake of a bloody stabbing during fighting between football gangs.
Police chiefs in his native country knew he was in the UK but were repeatedly frustrated in their attempts to trace him.
Sources in Poland said at least two other men with the same name had been arrested before officers finally got their man.
Kupiec was arrested in front of shocked customers at a branch of Subway in the market town of Devizes in Wiltshire.
The shop is just 270 yards from the headquarters of Wiltshire Police and is a regular haunt for officers and staff.
Regulars described Kupiec as ‘friendly’ and
‘Fight between football gangs’
said he had worked in the store for ‘ some time’. He was also a regular at a local gym.
Kupiec, from Krakow, is at the centre of an investigation into gangland killings, theft and the murder of a football fan. He is accused of reaching through the window of a car and stabbing a 22-year-old man to death without warning. His name was circulated worldwide as one of Interpol’s most wanted criminals following the murder in 2007.
Officers suspected the attack may have been a gang initiation and cracked down on those linked to it, but many fled abroad.
In an unusual twist, police suspect that Kupiec’s mother may have been hiding coded messages to him in online appeals for him to return home. Prosecutors said they believed an unusual last sentence combined with several unexplained numbers were a warning that he should in fact stay away.
Interpol publishes an online list of fugitive criminals wanted by police around the world. It currently contains 329 names.
A Wiltshire Police spokesman confirmed last night that a 28-year-old Polish man was arrested on ‘behalf of Interpol’. Det Insp Matt Davey, who runs the unit responsible for catching Kupiec, added: ‘This is clearly a good result for not just the intelligence team but the whole force.’ Mr Davey said that in 2015, the unit was sent details of 17 people with European Arrest Warrants and seven arrests were made.
A Subway spokesman said: ‘[Kupiec] provided the valid identification and documents required to gain employment. As this is now being investigated by the police, we are unable to comment further.’