Madrid: A fugitive hitman on France's most-wanted list has been arrested in Spain disguised in a devil's costume at a Halloween celebration, police said Friday.
Officers arrested Hamid Hakkar, 47, on Monday in the port of Malaga in southern Spain along with two Spaniards suspected of helping him hide, police said in a statement.
"He was disguised as a devil to blend in among the party-goers," the statement said.
Police released a photo of the red mask with black horns and sharp teeth which the man was wearing at the time of his arrest along with a black cape and wig.
The authorities said the man of Algerian background is on France's most-wanted list for murder, drug trafficking and money laundering.
In 2005 Hakkar was sentenced by a French court to 15 years in jail after finding him guilty of the murder of a minor drug trafficker.
He has been on the run since November 2013 when he did not return to a jail in northern France after being granted a temporary leave.
Hakkar -- who went by the name "Julio" -- was jailed for two years in 2010 for his role in helping Italian bank robber Antonio Ferrara escape from a French jail.
He had escaped himself from a Paris jail in 1998 by taking the place of another man in the visiting area who had come to see him at the prison. Hakkar was re-arrested in 2003.
Spanish police said they began investigating in mid-October when officers in Malaga found a "hitman's kit" that included two guns, a silencer, ammunition, eight mobile phones, false identity papers and 5,000 euros ($5,500) in cash at a house in the southern city.
