Ex-Catalan leader Puigdemont, a fugitive since 2017, returns to Spain. But then he vanishes again

abcnews.go.com:

Police have launched a manhunt in Barcelona for ex-Catalonia leader Carles Puigdemont

BARCELONA, Spain — Police launched a manhunt in Barcelona on Thursday for fugitive Carles Puigdemont, a celebrated campaigner for Catalan independence who made a sensational return to Spain and an equally sensational getaway from a speech in the city with the alleged help of local police officers.

The events took place nearly seven years after the ex-Catalonia leader fled Spain after a failed independence bid, with an outstanding arrest warrant pending against him.

Puigdemont had previously announced his intention to be in Spain on the day that Catalonia's parliament proclaimed a new president. The 61-year-old initially lived in Belgium after bolting from Spain in 2017, but his latest place of residence wasn't known.

Puigdemont kept his travel plans secret before setting out to the wealthy Catalan region in northeastern Spain. He gave a speech in front of a large crowd of supporters in central Barcelona under the noses of police officers, who made no attempt to detain him.

After his speech, in a cloak-and-dagger moment, Puigdemont went into an adjacent marquee tent. There, he hurried out of an exit and jumped into a waiting car that sped away, according to an Associated Press photographer who witnessed his departure.

Catalan police arrested two of their own officers for their alleged involvement in Puigdemont’s getaway, suspecting that the former leader used the private car of one of them, the force’s press office told The Associated Press. No further details were available.

After Puigdemont vanished, Catalan police — called Mossos d’Esquadra — checked vehicles across the city of around 1.6 million people and others heading on highways