Team of border officers led a targeted hunt for the suspected Easey St killer

The head of the operation to track accused double murderer Perry Kouroumblis has revealed how the long-awaited arrest unfolded at Rome’s Leonardo da Vinci Airport.

Five Italian state police officers scoured an incoming flight from Athens in search of accused Easey St double murderer Perry Kouroumblis.

The Herald Sun can reveal how the suspected killer’s long-awaited arrest unfolded on Thursday last week, with a team of border officers leading the targeted hunt at Rome’s Leonardo da Vinci Airport.

Speaking exclusively to the Herald Sun from his airport office, Chief Commissioner Fernando Speziali, who oversaw the operation, said Italian police tracked Mr Kouroumblis on his flight from Athens to Rome after receiving intelligence from Interpol and Australian authorities.

“The flight patrol was carried out by a team of four or five state police officers who filtered all the passengers getting off the flight, until the subject was identified,” Mr Speziali said.

Chief Commissioner Fernando Speziali oversaw the operation. Picture: Erik Messori/Capta and Andrea Vagnoni/Capta

“We checked all the people who had a match in terms of physical characteristics and possible age of the individual.”

It comes after the Herald Sun revealed Mr Kouroumblis maintained his innocence over the murders after his arrest, while agreeing to be extradited back to Australia.

Mr Speziali revealed the arresting officers briefly ran into difficulty because of some of the details listed on Mr Kouroumblis’ European identification documents, before they swooped in and brought him into custody.

In documents obtained by the Herald Sun, Mr Kouroumblis’ birth name was spelt “Periklis Kouroumplis”, instead of Perry Kouroumblis, as he is known to friends and loved ones in Melbourne.

The ID documents accused Easey St Killer Perry Kouroumblis used while living in Greece. Picture: Supplied

“We then had to carry out a series of bureaucratic procedures starting from the mug shots, to the drafting papers that validated the arrest for Italian judicial authorities before we transferred him to the prison,” Mr Speziali said.

Mr Speziali said Mr Kouroumblis was not aggressive and did not fight the arrest.

Mr Speziali said Italian authorities had not been able to rule out if the Greek-Australian dual citizen had travelled across Europe since leaving Australia using his EU papers, which carry more relaxed requirements for Europeans who do not need a passport to enter certain countries in the region.

Mr Kouroumblis’ public defender Serena Tucci revealed this week that plans for his extradition were already under way after he fronted an Italian court from his cell inside Regina Coeli prison this week.

Perry Kouroumblis was not aggressive and did not fight the arrest, Mr Speziali said.

Mr Kouroumblis is the main suspect in the 1977 double stabbing murder of friends Susan Bartlet, 28, and Suzanne Armstrong, 27, inside their Easey St home in Collingwood.

Forty-seven years after the shocking murders, no charges have been laid over their deaths and Victoria Police must serve a brief of evidence to Italian authorities in several weeks’ time before bringing Mr Kouroumblis back to Australia.

It is understood Victoria Police are planning to bring him back to Australia in November.

The coming period will be busy for investigators involved in the Easey St inquiry.

They will have to put the finishing touches on a comprehensive brief of evidence that would potentially run to hundreds or thousands of pages.

It must be translated into Italian and be in the hands of local authorities by next month.

They will then consider its merits. 

Originally published as Team of border officers led a targeted hunt for the suspected Easey St killer