Robberies in the Nuoro area: Puligheddu, a man from Orgosolo, tells the judge: "I ran away to take care of the horses."

Peppino Puligheddu, 60, originally from Orgosolo, exercised his right to remain silent when he appeared this morning before Nuoro investigating judge Giovanni Angelicchio. The man, represented by lawyers Paola Marteddu and Giovanni Angelo Colli, chose not to answer the judge's questions during the preliminary hearing. The investigating judge confirmed the precautionary prison order.

Puligheddu limited himself to providing a brief explanation regarding his escape , which began last Tuesday and ended Saturday, claiming that he had only left "temporarily" to take care of some horses, and that they would have difficulty with his arrest, adding that he had no intention of permanently evading justice.

The 60-year-old was arrested last Saturday after two days on the run and four on the run. He had been unavailable Tuesday morning, when officers showed up at his home to execute a precautionary custody order issued by the investigating judge as part of the investigation by the Nuoro prosecutor's office and the Barbagia police into the armored van gang, which is accused of the Torpe robberies last March and an attempted robbery of the Battistolli armored van in August, which had been dismantled in the previous days.

Puligheddu, identified by investigators as the alleged leader of the group, voluntarily turned himself in early Friday afternoon to officers from the Nuoro Flying Squad, with the support of the Olbia Police Station in San Teodoro, ending a brief but intense manhunt.

Michele Carta (41, from Siniscola), Riccardo Mercuriu (30, from Mamoiada, represented by the lawyer Francesco Lai), Antonio Saccheddu (35, from Orgosolo, represented by the lawyer Margherita Baragliu), Alessandro Dessolis (41, from Orgosolo, represented by the lawyer Stefano Murgia), Giovanni Piras (29, from Orgosolo, represented by Carmelino Fenudi), and Pasquale Musina (49, also from Orgosolo, represented by the lawyer Riccardo Floris) had already been arrested. Puligheddu is currently being held in the Badu 'e Carros prison.