'Mafia financier' held by Spain

Pietro Nocera has been on the run from Italian police since 2003

A man alleged to be a financier for the Naples mafia - or Camorra - has been arrested in Spain's Canary Islands.

Pietro Nocera, who has been on the run from the Italian authorities for two years, was detained in Las Palmas on a European arrest warrant.

Spanish police said Mr Nocera, 47, was considered to be "very violent".

An official statement added Mr Nocera worked for the Nuvoleta clan, "one of the most powerful mafia clans in the south of Italy."

Police said that during the past two years, he had allegedly continued to carry out business for the clan, such as finding financial support.

He was first spotted in the Canaries in June 2004, but managed to evade capture until he was discovered again in October and kept under surveillance until his arrest.

Earlier this year, Raffaele Amato, the suspected head of one of the Camorra gangs waging a bloody turf war in Naples, was arrested in Barcelona.