The operation took place in the city of Padua, in northern Italy, and allowed the arrest of Shergili Farjiani, one of the five who escaped from Vale de Judeu and the third to be recaptured, a PJ source told Lusa.

In a statement, the PJ said that the capture of Shergili Farjiani, 40, was the result of "persistent, complex and uninterrupted work of investigation and information collection."

"The police operation counted on the collaboration of the Italian authorities to recapture this Georgian citizen with an extensive criminal career, such as crimes of violent theft and forgery of documents".

The PJ highlighted that this Georgian fugitive was subject to "a European arrest warrant issued by the competent judicial authority, with a red notice at Europol".

The escape from Vale de Judeus, in Alcoentre, in the municipality of Azambuja, involved five prisoners, two of whom were Portuguese and had already been recaptured (Fábio Loureiro and Fernando Ribeiro Ferreira).

A citizen of Argentina, Rodolf José Lohrmann, and a citizen of the United Kingdom, Mark Cameron Roscaleer, remain at large.

They were sentenced to between seven and 25 years in prison for various crimes, including drug trafficking, criminal association, robbery, kidnapping and money laundering.

This escape led the Ministry of Justice to initiate nine cases, targeting the former director, the head of the guard and seven prison officers, a decision that resulted from the recommendations of the report prepared by the Audit and Inspection Service (SAI) of the Directorate. -General Reinsertion and Prison Services (DGRSP).

In a note released in October, the Ministry of Justice also highlighted the opening of two independent investigations: one in relation to the prison commissioner, due to the "lack of implementation of security measures and a situation of prolonged absenteeism", and another to the Directorate of Security Services "to assess their functioning and capacity to respond to situations of this nature".

A certificate was also issued to the competent authorities to determine disciplinary responsibilities in relation to GNR soldiers regarding "the conditions under which images of events in the Vale de Judeus prison establishment were transferred, without authorisation, to the media.