An escaped jewel thief caught by gardaí in Dublin yesterday is to appear in court this afternoon.
Detectives were questioning Juan Carlos Guzman-Betancourt (29) in connection with a break-in at Merrion Hotel in which jewellery, credit cards and cash was stolen.
Guzman-Betancourt was serving a three-and-a-half-year jail sentence in Britain for stealing jewellery worth £150,000, cash and other items over six years. On June 6th, the Colombian national left an open prison in Kent for a doctor's appointment and did not return.
He is believed to have netted millions from raids on hotel rooms in more than ten countries over a number of years, after beginning his crime spree in the mid-1990s.
The conman, who is also known by the name Gonzalo Zapater Vives, is an expert linguist who is believed to use up 10 different aliases. Uniformed gardaí captured the Colombian national in Talbot Street yesterday afternoon.