On Christmas Eve, a quiet, composed figure walked through the main gate of Madrid’s Alcalá Meco prison. The man, only twenty years old, had been arrested a day earlier at a railway station in Leipzig, Germany. He is identified as the author of two murders. The name that has surfaced in investigations is Yousef Mohamed Lehrech, also known as El Pastilla. He did not appear to be active in Ceuta or Algeciras, areas where his network of friends, associates, victims, and rival factions were largely organized. Clues later tied him to cities such as Salamanca, Barcelona, Guadalajara, Ciudad Real, and Malaga, widening the geographic footprint astronomically in the case.
The National Police Fugitive Ground Group carried out a meticulous search that stretched over more than a month. A pivotal breakthrough came from tracing a contact who could be reached by phone, a lead uncovered by the Prensa Ibérica investigative team and channels associated with CASO ABIERTO. The person of interest, El Pastilla in Cologne, Germany, appeared to have been frequenting a local mosque since the start of January, according to information gathered by investigators and the German authorities. This key piece of evidence shifted the focus toward the mosque and the neighborhood around it as a potential hub. [Citation: Prensa Ibérica investigation]
Short Hair
Authorities pieced together an image of El Pastilla that included a devout profile common to the community he was purportedly connected with. He appeared in public with a trimmed haircut and a hoodie, details that initially offered little reason for suspicion. Yet, in a bid to avoid misidentifications, investigators cross-checked the image against surveillance footage at the mosque. The facial recognition system used by the police returned a positive match. Once visual confirmation arrived, officers traced the person to a residence used by North African residents, where the fugitive had been staying for roughly the first part of the year. By the time officers arrived, he had vanished from that location. [Citation: Open Case Channel]
The pursuit culminated yesterday when the fugitive was finally located and taken into custody at a train station in Leipzig, a distance of about 350 kilometers from Cologne. He possessed no identity documents, no money, and no firearm. Fingerprint analysis conclusively identified him as the suspect. The seizure of biometric data sealed the case, removing any doubt about the person behind the aliases.
Prior to this breakthrough in Germany, investigators from the Fugitive Unit, with support from undercover units in Ceuta and Algeciras, had been following leads that pointed back to Ceuta, Algeciras, and Morocco. Those clues offered limited cooperation from his circle, leaving the teams with scant information from associates. Nevertheless, data eventually surfaced showing locations tied to some of his collaborators. A contact in Montpellier, France, indicated that alleged associates were present there. The check confirmed the presence of those individuals, yet El Pastilla himself remained elusive at that moment. [Citation: Internal security briefings]