One of Europe’s most wanted fugitives, leader of a drug trafficking organisation, arrested in Madrid

National Police officers have arrested in Madrid to one of the Most wanted fugitives in ‘Europe’s Most Wanted’ campaign being considered the leader of an Albanian-Kosovar organization dedicated to drug trafficfor which he had been sentenced to more than 29 years in prison in Belgium.

The Albanian man was charged with thirteen counts of drug trafficking, membership in a criminal organisation and document forgery in Belgium, according to the National Police.

The events for which he was sought took place between 2014 and 2018years in which the fugitive led a criminal organization, based in Belgium, dedicated to cannabis cultivation and traffickingwith which he amassed a fortune of more than four million euros.

Together with family members and people close to him, he led an Albanian-Kosovar organization where the roles of each member were perfectly defined and established. At the lowest level were the gardeners and cleaning staff, above them the people in charge of collecting money, those in charge of logistics (renting houses or providing vehicles) and finally at the top, where the leaders who coordinated the activity were.

High light levels for mass cultivation

To carry out these activities they used false documentation with which they signed electricity contracts and rented homes where they carried out mass cultivation and where they recruited people who were in an irregular situation in the country.

As part of the investigation carried out in Belgium, the agents carried out an operation in which they dismantled more than thirteen cannabis plantations and arrested the leader of the organization, who was sentenced to more than 29 years in prison. Following this sentence, the man fled. For these facts, the Belgian authorities issued three European Arrest Warrants against.

Wanted in Spain since January 2023

Suspecting that the man might be in Spain, in January 2023, specialized agents of the National Police began an investigation, in coordination with the FAST Belgium teamin order to detain the fugitive for his subsequent delivery.

The location efforts were complicated because the defendant took multiple security measures to avoid legal action. In addition, the man had a important logistics to avoid being located, such as the use of different vehicles in which he was transferred hidden so as not to be seen, different addresses where he spent the night intermittently to avoid establishing routines and I changed my cell phone frequently.

Following the steps taken, the agents managed to locate the fugitive in Madrid, where a device was established for his arrest, which took place last Thursday, September 12when he was heading to a van that picked him up near one of the homes that were being controlled.

The fugitive, who was included in the list of Europe’s most wanted persons “EUROPE’S MOST WANTED FUGITIVES”, was subject to these three European arrest warrants (EAWs) issued by the Belgian authorities. He has therefore been placed at the disposal of the Central Court of Instruction of the National Court.