A BRIT “drug smuggler” has been arrested at a Costa Blanca hotel over alleged drug offences.
The 35-year-old man had an international warrant out for his arrest.
SolarpixThe Brit was arrested by Spanish police at a Costa Blanca hotel[/caption]
SolarpixSpanish police surrounded the alleged fugitive’s room after three years of trying to find him[/caption]
Spanish police said he had been “directly linked” to bringing in large amounts of cocaine, heroin and ecstasy as well as money laundering.
His arrest was done with the help of the UK’s National Crime Agency, the Met Police and officers from the Civil Guard’s elite UCO Central Operative Unit.
He is believed to been found after experts analysed messages on an encrypted communication network called Encrochat from him.
A spokesman for the Civil Guard said: “The Civil Guard has arrested a British man who had been wanted by authorities in his country since 2020 for drug trafficking, money laundering and membership of a criminal organisation.
“Specifically he has been directly related to the import of large amounts of different drugs into the UK.”
Officials say it took “weeks of intense but discreet work” to catch the man after his partners were located in Alicante.
The wanted man was found in the municipality of Javea where his home was searched.
A spokesperson continued: “The home where he was hiding out was subsequently searched in an operation in which NCA and Metropolitan Police detectives participated.
“The fugitive has also been linked to the laundering of the proceeds obtained from the sale of these substances.
Another man was arrested in January last year in Palma, Majorca connected to the same organisation.
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