Police in Portugal said Saturday they have arrested a member of Italy's Camorra crime group who had been on the run for more than 20 years.

The unidentified 69-year-old man was detained in northern Portugal, police said in a statement.

He had been sentenced to 15 years in jail but fled before starting his punishment, it added.

He was presented to a court in the northern city of Porto and jailed while he awaits extradition.

The Camorra, which is based in the southern Naples area, is one of Italy's three main organised crime groups, along with Sicily's Cosa Nostra, commonly known as the mafia, and the ‘Ndrangheta, centred in the Calabria region.