Escaped "psychotic" prisoner caught by police in the Czech Republic

A prisoner who escaped a psychiatric institution in Groningen nearly three weeks ago was caught on Monday in the Czech Republic. Dutch police previously described Mouloud M., 33, as someone who "urgently needs medication for psychotic behavior."

He was caught by Czech police "during a check in the town of Kadaň," the Dutch Public Prosecution Service announced. The arrest took place in the morning, but no other details were released. Dutch prosecutors will request M.'s extradition, the office said in a statement.

On February 7, M. escaped from the Van Mesdag clinic in Groningen while on supervised leave. Police in the Netherlands cautioned that he can be a threat to himself and others without his medication. The fugitive, originally from Enschede, was last seen in the Netherlands near the Sterrebos forest along the north side of the institution. He was described as having a "striking" and unrelenting stare.

M. was convicted in 2020 for aggravated assault stemming from an attack on a social worker in Amsterdam five years earlier. He was accused of repeatedly punching the victim in the face, seriously injuring him, while threatening to kill him.

He was also convicted in 2020 of threatening to murder the physician treating him at the Altrecht institution in Utrecht in 2015. The clinic said he shouted statements like, "I am going to visit you in Amersfoort at your house. You’re going to be scared, especially you," and also, "If he comes again tomorrow, I will kill him."

In both cases, the court sentenced M. to mandatory treatment in a psychiatric institution. The trial happened years after the accusations because M. had been in custody in Germany.

Kadaň is a town in the western Chomutov District, which is part of the Ústecký Region. The town of about 18,000 people is 25 kilometers east of the German border at Oberwiesenthal, and about 90 kilometers northwest of Prague.