Italian police have arrested a man who had been on the run for more than a decade after he travelled to Italy to watch an Olympic ice hockey match at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Games, Idman.Biz reports.
According to NBC News, the 44 year old Slovak citizen was wanted under a warrant issued by a court 16 years ago. He had been sentenced in 2010 to one year in prison over a series of shop thefts but had avoided serving the sentence.
Authorities tracked the man after he checked into a guesthouse in Milan ahead of Slovakia’s opening men’s hockey game against Finland. Officers detained him shortly afterwards.
The arrest came on the same day Slovakia defeated Finland 4-1 in the opening match of the men’s Olympic tournament, drawing strong support from travelling fans across Europe.
The Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics run until 22 February, with tens of thousands of international supporters attending events across northern Italy, prompting extensive security monitoring by local authorities.
