- He had gained 50 kilos to change his appearance
Some of the 10 most wanted criminals by the Civil Guard have been arrested in Bulgaria for belonging to a dangerous criminal organization dedicated to the introduction in Spain and the rest of Europe of large amounts of cocaine from South America and money laundering.
The man had gained 50 kilos to change his physical appearance and planned to flee to Venezuela in the next few days.
The detainee, of Spanish nationality, was claimed by the Spanish judicial authorities since 2013, when the police, within the framework of the 'GOBE' operation, culminated with the involvement of more than 150 people and in which the suspect had the fundamental role of seeking objectives interested in introducing significant amounts of cocaine.
In fact, the Civil Guard states that it was the person in charge of receiving those shipments in Spain, as well as raising the money to pay for the narcotic substance at source.
Thanks to citizen collaboration and coordination between the Civil Guard, the Bulgarian Police and the Sirene Offices of both countries, it was possible to place that person in a very specific area of the Bulgarian city of Varna, where he had long resided and that he planned to leave definitively in the next few days to Venezuela.
The possibility was also considered that the individual, in addition to carrying falsified documentation, could carry firearms in their movements and have significantly changed their physical appearance, being able to have gained more than 50 kilos.
201 people arrested in 2018
The Flee of Justice team of the Central Operating Unit (UCO) of the Civil Guard, arrested a total of 201 people during the past year, all of them claimed for compliance with various procedural measures both by the Spanish judicial authorities in the framework of their powers, as by foreign authorities.
This figure represents a significant increase with respect to the 159 people arrested in 2017 by this same department, claimed by European Detention and Delivery Orders, and International Detention Orders.
The 26 cases of foreigners fleeing Spain, the 26 cases of Germany, 23 of Romania, 19 of Italy and 17 of France stand out. The Civil Guard has moved to several countries to participate in the location and detention of 24 people claimed by Spanish authorities for crimes committed in our country, highlighting the number of actions carried out in Colombia, Romania, France, Argentina and Sweden.
Regarding the types of crime that have led to these arrests, three stand out for homicide or murder, two for child abuse and the rest would be framed within the scope of criminal organizations, 16 arrests corresponding to drug trafficking, 9 for fraud, three for money laundering and the rest by different types.