Top50 wanted Hungarian table tennis champion caught in Italy

A Top50 wanted Hungarian drug dealer was arrested in Italy last week, the official police website police.hu said on Monday.

The staff of the Criminal Investigation Department of the Budapest Police Headquarters, with the assistance of the Life Protection and Targeting Department of the National Bureau of Investigation, mapped the whereabouts of the 49-year-old man from Budapest, and on 21 February 2023 he was apprehended by the Italian authorities in Montemarciano, Italy. The man was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment for drug trafficking in 2022 by the Metropolitan Court of Budapest.

However, Róbert P., a multiple Hungarian table tennis champion, did not go to prison but went into hiding from the authorities. In the meantime, the man was also wanted for defamation and possession of drugs.

As it was suspected that he had fled abroad, in addition to the domestic arrest warrant, he was also wanted in Europe and internationally and was put on the wanted list.

The man was listed among the 50 most wanted Hungarian criminals, police.hu said.

The search was then joined by the National Bureau of Investigation’s Life Protection and Target Search Department.

As a result of this joint work, the hiding place of Róbert P. was mapped and he was apprehended by the Italian authorities. A decision on extradition will be taken at a later stage.