A 33-year-old Belgian, considered the head of a cocaine trafficking network and linked to arms trafficking, has been arrested in Spain and is awaiting his extradition to Belgium, the Spanish Civil Guard announced on Wednesday.
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This man, whom the Civil Guard only designated by his initials "
YMW
", is considered in Belgium as "
one of the greatest leaders of a criminal organization
" which devoted itself to the reception, logistics and distribution "
d 'large loads of cocaine at the Belgian port of Antwerp, before their delivery to the rest of the continent,
"said the Civil Guard in a statement.
"
The members of this organization were directly linked to the trafficking of weapons of war at the international level
," she added.
Last summer, the police located the man in a luxury villa in the region of Malaga, in the south of the country.
But in October, when a European arrest warrant, allowing his arrest, had been issued, he "
fled precipitously
".
On December 23, the police had finally found his trace when he found his family for the end of the year celebrations in the neighboring region of Granada, in a remote village where they were able to arrest him.
He is now awaiting the decision of the High Court of the National Hearing on his extradition to Belgium.
The port of Antwerp, one of the hubs for cocaine trafficking, is the first access route for this drug in Europe: in 2020, nearly 65.5 tonnes were seized there.