Walter Finch
A YOUNG gang member and hitman escaped from jail on Christmas Eve after brazenly walking out of the prison gates hidden among his visiting family.
Ceuta-born Yussef ML, 20, also known as ‘El Pastilla’ (the Pill), managed to escape from Alcala Meco prison in Madrid in a Christmas miracle that seems more suited to a dark Hollywood thriller.
The extraordinary blunder has been put down to inexperienced prison guards who permitted the visitors to leave before the inmates had been fingerprinted.
It meant that the young killer, who already has two acknowledged hits to his name, was able to waltz out of the jail without the use or threat of violence.
Prison sources have indicated that the escape occurred on Saturday around 6:00pm, shortly before the prison realised they were an inmate down.
The guards quickly activated escape protocols and informed law enforcement and the judiciary overseeing Yussef ML’s case.
“He is young and dangerous, with many incompatibilities due to his membership in gangs with other groups in conflict in Ceuta,” police sources said.
“This has not happened for a long time and it is a mistake – a mistake made by a prison official – so it will be necessary to clarify if he paid money to escape, or if there has been some kind of carelessness or if there may be any other motivation,” the source added.
During his seven-month spell behind bars, El Pastilla was classified as level five in the Prisoners of Special Follow-up File (FIES) due to his high-risk profile and conflicts with rival gangs.
For his own safety he was transferred from his prison in Cadiz to Madrid in early December.
El Pastilla, who is an emerging player in Cadiz province’s gang wars, had been sent down for the murder of his own gang boss, Nayim A, alias Tayena, in Los Barrios on April 12.
The Guardia Civil tracked the young killer – always among the usual suspects whenever there was a shooting – down and arrested him in the Port of Algeciras as he tried to flee to Ceuta.
Before that, he had assassinated a 26-year-old man in Algeciras under Tayena’s orders in October 2022 in a case of mistaken identity.
The victim was thought to be a member of a rival gang led by infamous Cueta crime lord ‘El Piolín.’
The gang wars have instilled fear in the community of Los Barrios, Cadiz, with frequent shootings becoming the norm.
A significant manhunt is now underway with Yussef ML’s whereabouts unknown. It is thought he might try to flee the country.
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