One of the world’s most wanted terrorists is on the run after taking advantage of Pope Leo’s Argentina visit to mount a daring escape from house arrest.

Leonardo Bertulazzi was hours away from being flown to Italy to serve 27 years in prison there for being a member of the Red Brigades.

The far-left militant group terrified Italy throughout the 1970s and 1980s with a spate of kidnappings and killings, including former prime minister Aldo Moro.

While the police were busy handling the crowds of millions lining the streets to greet Pope Leo XIV, 74-year-old Bertulazzi launched an escape plan worthy of Hollywood.

He cut off his electronic ankle monitor, greased it up and stuffed it inside a thermal blanket to mimic his body temperature and moisture.

After that, he used ropes and a harness to quietly lower himself from his fifth-floor apartment to a neighbour’s second-floor terrace.

From there, he climbed down to a first-floor terrace, made his way to a vacant lot and escaped onto the street by climbing over a gate.

One investigator told the Argentinian daily La Nación: ‘To think that he was under house arrest because, supposedly, he had suffered a stroke.’

Argentine authorities have said Bertulazzi was involved in the Genoa branch of the Red Brigades and helped plan Moro’s kidnapping.

The Security Ministry offered a reward of 20 million pesos (about £10,000) for information leading to his capture.

On Tuesday, Wanda Ferro, an undersecretary in Italy’s Interior Ministry, said Argentine police were responsible for ensuring Bertulazzi was handed over to Italian authorities.

‘I am certain that every effort will be made and that there will be appropriate dialogue to ensure — we hope — that he is brought back into custody and, above all, that extradition can take place very quickly if he is recaptured,’ she told private broadcaster Tgcom24.

Argentine authorities first arrested Bertulazzi in November 2002 on an arrest warrant issued by Italian authorities.

Italy formally requested his extradition the following month, but an Argentine federal judge rejected the request in June 2003, ruling that Italian law did not guarantee Bertulazzi a new trial after he had been convicted in absentia.

Bertulazzi was granted refugee status in October 2004.

In 2024, when right-wing President Javier Milei took office, Argentine authorities revoked that status and re-arrested him in August.

At the time, then-Security Minister Patricia Bullrich celebrated his capture.

‘This dangerous criminal’s years of impunity are over. In this Argentina led by President Milei, those who commit crimes pay the price,’ she wrote on social media.

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