MONTEVIDEO (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 13th July, 2019) A Russian national, named Sergei, who was detained in Uruguay on charges of concealing an escape of Italian mafia boss Rocco Morabito from jail, has indeed helped organize the escape but did not act under his free will, his lawyer, Paola Vitale, told Sputnik.
The Russian national was detained alongside two other Russian citizens earlier this week during a raid in their pizza restaurant in Montevideo. He was subsequently placed in pre-trial detention for 90 years, while two other Russian nationals were released as a probe into them continued.
"He was not acting under his free will. This is what he said," Vitale said on Friday.
A source, informed about the situation, told Sputnik that the Russian national had allegedly known Morabito for several years. According to the source, they met at one of Uruguay's resorts where the Russian citizen owned a restaurant that Morabito and his family visited.
After the mafia boss' detention, the Russian national had visited him in jail and had brought him food and living essentials, the source argued.
Morabito, the most wanted member of the notorious Italian 'Ndrangheta gang, was arrested in September 2017 after escaping justice for years and was awaiting his extradition to Italy in prison before he escaped alongside two other inmates in June. He has been found to be behind major drug trafficking operations in the late 1980s - early 1990s.
