Italian police say they have discovered the notorious chief of a Naples Mafia clan, Michele Zagaria, who has been on the run for 16 years, BBC reports.

Police said they had found him after digging through a secret bunker in his home town of Casapesenna near Naples.

Described as head of the powerful Casalesi clan, he was sentenced to multiple life sentences in absentia.

The Casalesi clan has been involved in drug trafficking and corruption in the construction industry.

There was jubilation among the security forces who finally managed to detain Mr Zagaria, the BBC's Alan Johnston in Rome reports.

"You won. The state has won," Mr Zagaria told anti-mafia investigators as he was being arrested, according to the AFP news agency.

The Casalesi clan is one of a number of groups within the Camorra criminal network, which dominates the underworld in the Naples area.

Mr Zagaria is thought to be the most senior figure in the Camorra who was still at large.