Italian terror fugitive is seized

A CONVICTED terrorist, described as Italy's most wanted man, was arrested in London yesterday. Vittorio Spadavecchia, 37, was seized by officers from a specialist Scotland Yard serious-crime squad in response to a request by Italian police for him to be extradited.

He was arrested at his home in Acton, west London, where he had been living for several years with his wife, understood to be pregnant. The operation is believed to have followed a month-long surveillance after British police were contacted by police in Rome five weeks ago.

Spadavecchia was convicted in his absence in Italy of murders, robberies and terrorist incidents carried out in Rome in the early Eighties. He was arrested yesterday in connection with an armed robbery on a bank in Rome in 1982.