Yousef Mohamed Lehrech, also known as El Pastilla, the 20-year-old alleged hitman who escaped from the Alcalá-Meco prison in Madrid on December 23 and was arrested a month and two days later in Germany, has now been brought back to Spain. Agents from the International Cooperation Division of the National Police transferred him from Germany to Madrid on Wednesday on a flight that landed at around three in the afternoon at Adolfo Suárez-Barajas Airport from Frankfurt. Images released by the Ministry of Interior show a strong security presence upon his arrival. El Pastilla’s escape from the Madrid II Penitentiary Center in Alcalá Meco occurred on Christmas Eve, following at least four serious security failures that allowed the inmate to walk out of the prison through the main gate.
The Fugitive Location Section of the National Police, through the Enfast Network (Active Fugitive Search Teams), initially searched for Lehrech in Andalusia (specifically in Malaga and Cadiz) and sought collaboration from Morocco, his country of origin. However, further investigation led authorities to Europe, specifically France and Germany, where he was finally arrested on January 25 near the train station in Leipzig, Germany. Testimonies from members of a mosque in Cologne that Lehrech frequented, as well as images from a nearby security camera, were crucial in locating him. Since then, Lehrech had been in a German prison awaiting extradition to Spain.
El Pastilla’s escape led to several prison officials being reprimanded to hold them accountable for the elaborate escape. Surveillance footage from the prison’s cameras captured the inmate’s journey from the communications module, where he intended to communicate with four family members, to the exit checkpoint in detail. Allegedly, the fugitive blended in with visitors to other inmates to go unnoticed and, upon finding an open lock separating areas with bars, calmly walked out through the prison’s main gate without being stopped. This incident marked the 22nd escape from Spanish prisons since 2003, according to official statistics from Penitentiary Institutions reported by EL PAÍS.
Interior authorities later released photos of the fugitive on social media, seeking public assistance after labeling him as “highly dangerous.” His criminal record supported this classification. At the time of his escape, Lehrech had been held in custody for eight months, accused of committing two murders. The first murder occurred on October 6, 2022, when he allegedly killed a dockworker in Algeciras (Cadiz) at the behest of Nayim K.A., Tayena, the leader of a drug trafficking gang that El Pastilla was involved with at the time. It was revealed during the investigation that the victim was not the intended target of the drug traffickers, but El Pastilla mistook him for a member of a rival group, the Piolín gang, who they were aiming to assassinate.
The second murder he is accused of took place on April 12, 2023, and was that of Tayena, his former boss, whom he reportedly shot at close range in the abdomen as he left his home in Los Cortijillos, in Los Barrios, also in Cadiz province. El Pastilla was apprehended in Algeciras as he attempted to board a ferry to Ceuta to hide. Upon his arrest, Lehrech confessed to the murder to the Guardia Civil and claimed to have disposed of the gun in the sea. Following his incarceration, El Pastilla was placed on the Special Monitoring Inmate File (FIES), a system created over 25 years ago to enhance control over certain prisoners and “ensure security” within prisons. Specifically, he was classified as FIES-5, reserved for inmates with “special characteristics,” including those accused of organized crime-related offenses or serious crimes, such as his case. Initially detained at Botafuegos prison in Algeciras, he was transferred to Alcalá-Meco prison in early December due to the risk of aggression from inmates associated with the gang of his second victim.
