A man wanted since 2018 for sexual offenses against minors under the age of 15 was arrested by officers from the Search and Identification Department of the Provincial Police Headquarters in Wrocław, together with officers from the Central Targeted Search Section of the Search and Identification Department of the Criminal Bureau of the National Police Headquarters, supported by officers from the Warsaw Chopin Airport Police Station. Officers: – The actions carried out by the Polish Police in cooperation with the justice authorities and in coordination with numerous agencies, including the Philippine deportation services, the Qatari Police, the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in the Philippines, the Interpol General Secretariat in Lyon and BMWP KGP, led to the man being arrested again as he was leaving a plane at Warsaw airport.
As the police explain:
The man had been sought by Wrocław’s “headhunters” since 2018. In the past, he worked at a residential care home where children and young people deprived of parental care were supposed to receive foster care. However, they did not receive it at this facility. The man abused the residents, used violence and sexually abused minor residents under the age of 15. After the truth came to light, the man left his former place of residence and began hiding from law enforcement.
In May 2018, the Wrocław-Fabryczna District Court issued a warrant for his arrest. Unfortunately, the wanted man could not be located either in Poland or in other European countries.
At the end of 2020, officers from the Search and Identification Department of the Provincial Police Headquarters in Wrocław, known as “headhunters,” joined the case. The officers carried out a series of checks that ruled out the possibility that the wanted man was in the Republic of Poland. They therefore asked the court to initiate an international search.
The ENFAST Contact Point in the Search Department of the National Police Headquarters then joined the case. ENFAST is a European police cooperation network involved in searching for the most dangerous criminals. ENFAST officers published information about the man’s wanted status on the website Europe’s Most Wanted Fugitives List, which contains information about Europe’s most wanted criminals.
The man also became the face of a media campaign organized as a joint initiative of the ENFAST network and EUROPOL. Held at the end of 2020, it focused on dangerous sex offenders. The campaign’s slogan was #every two minutes. (According to statistics, a sexual offense is committed every two minutes in EU countries.)
The campaign generated numerous anonymous reports for the Search Department of the National Police Headquarters concerning the alleged location where the wanted man was hiding. All the information was carefully checked. One report indicated that the man might be staying in one of the island countries of Southeast Asia.
While maintaining a constant exchange of information with officers from the Provincial Police Headquarters in Wrocław, the ENFAST Contact Point began cooperating on the case with an ENFAST network partner, the US Marshals, and the Philippine Fugitive Search Unit (FSU). Thanks to the extensive experience of Wrocław’s “headhunters,” their use of unconventional solutions, the ongoing exchange of information and cooperation requiring numerous joint coordination efforts, they managed to determine the exact place where the wanted man was hiding. He was located on the Philippine island of Siquijor.
The wanted man was arrested on February 14, 2021. Officers from the search team in Manila and the local police on Siquijor took part in the operation.
The wanted man was then transported under police escort, first by ship and then by plane, to the Philippine capital, where he underwent deportation proceedings. The arrest of the man wanted by Poland also attracted the attention of the Philippine media.
However, international procedures did not allow the arrested man to be surrendered to the Polish authorities. He was subsequently released from detention in the Philippines after just under two years.
The actions carried out by the Polish Police in cooperation with the justice authorities and in coordination with numerous agencies, including the Philippine deportation services, the Qatari Police, the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in the Philippines, the Interpol General Secretariat in Lyon and BMWP KGP, led to the man being arrested again on April 5, 2023, as he was leaving a plane at Warsaw airport. The arrest was carried out by officers from the Search and Identification Department of the Provincial Police Headquarters in Wrocław, together with officers from the Central Targeted Search Section of the Search and Identification Department of the Criminal Bureau of the National Police Headquarters, supported by officers from the Warsaw Chopin Airport Police Station.
After his arrest, Dariusz Z. was transported to Wrocław, where he was ultimately sent to prison on April 6, 2023, to serve his imposed sentence of imprisonment.
Officers: – This is an excellent example showing that even criminals hiding in exotic countries on the other side of the globe should not feel safe. They must reckon with the fact that even far from Europe, they can be located and arrested.