Khaberni - In a bold escape directly inspired by classic Hollywood films, Albanian prisoner Taulant Toma (41 years old) managed to flee from the Opera maximum security prison in Milan, marking his fourth successful escape from European prisons since 2009.
The Italian authorities discovered the escape on the morning of Sunday, December 7, which caused widespread shock and led to the launch of an intense national and European manhunt, amid fears of his flight outside Italy.
According to investigations by the Italian police and prison administration statements, Toma executed his plan in the early dawn hours between Saturday night and Sunday, taking advantage of the change in guard shifts and the pitch darkness, as Toma managed to obtain a file or a small saw from a workshop inside the prison without raising suspicions.
Hollywood-style escape
The investigations clarified that the prisoner used the "saw" to partially cut the iron bars of his cell window, which allowed him to pass through thanks to a strict diet he followed to lose weight and make himself thinner (his height is 165 cm and weighs about 50 kg).
Afterwards, he made a rope from carefully knotted bed sheets, and climbed down from the approximately 10 meters high cell, then crossed the prison yard, and overcame the high outer wall at a height of 6 meters, using a makeshift ladder made of broom handles tied with tape and an iron hook.
Surveillance cameras tracked his movements around 6:30 AM as he escaped on foot, but the alarm was not activated immediately, giving Toma a time advantage of at least an hour.
Taulant Toma, born in Albania in 1984, earned the title "King of Escape" in the Italian media due to his exceptional record of escaping from prisons, although he was always eventually recaptured, and is serving a long sentence ending in 2048 for armed robbery, drug trafficking, and possession of weapons.
A long record of escapes from European prisons
The first escape was in October 2009 from Terni prison in central Italy, during a sports hour in a soccer game, he climbed the wall and escaped, then was recaptured two months later in the suburbs of Milan, with pistols and a large quantity of cocaine in his possession.
The second escape was in February 2013 with another Albanian partner who was later killed in a robbery, from a highly secured prison in Parma, using almost the same method: cutting bars and knotted sheets.
His third escape occurred in 2013 after being captured in Belgium and deported to Lantin prison near Liège, he escaped again just a few months later, remaining on the run for two years until his recapture in 2015 and deportation to Italy.
This series of events made him a media legend, surpassing even renowned criminals like Felice Maniero who had only three escapes, as Toma is considered "extremely dangerous" by European authorities, with a wide network of contacts in the Albanian organized crime world.
