STA, 21 April 2021 - A 21-year-old British citizen was arrested on Saturday for illegally transporting a five-member family from Iraq after a wild chase during which he crashed into police vehicles several times. The man is in custody.
The 21-year-old driving a car with Spanish licence plates was pulled over by border police in Srednja Bistrica on Friday evening, but when asked to show documents he put the car in reverse and deliberately hit the front part of the police car before leaving in the direction of the motorway, the Murska Sobota police department said on Wednesday.
The police immediately followed him, but he hit the breaks several times to hit the police car behind him. He also collided with another police vehicle during the wild chase.
Police then used stingers with the 21-year-old bypassing the first one and driving right through the second one, being forced to pull over with flat tyres just before reaching the motorway. But the man continued to run on foot and police lost track of him.
After inspecting his vehicle, police found a five-member family from Iraq in the car. The foreigners, who entered the country illegally from Croatia, applied for international protection. The women sustained light injuries during the wild chase.
The Slovenian police informed their counterparts in other countries of the fugitive and he was apprehended by the Austrian police on Saturday morning.
The man faces charges for illegal crossing of the border, prevention of official proceedings and taking revenge on a public official. He has been remanded in custody.
The 21-year-old was already processed by the Radgona police at the beginning of the month after he refused to pull over but continued speeding on the motorway, where he caused a traffic accident. He tried to run away on foot, but police eventually caught him.
The man was also involved in a police chase in the Celje area last year, after he refused to pull over. The chase also involved deliberate collisions with police cars and running away on foot.
