A “most wanted” cannabis kingpin has been caught and arrested two years after he went on the run.
Haredin Fejzulla was listed on the Europe’s Most Wanted Fugitives website in September last year.
He was convicted in Belgium for 13 drug trafficking offences, belonging to a criminal organisation, and document forgery.
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He was accused of leading a gang based in Belgium involved in the cultivation and trafficking of cannabis.
They are believed to have amassed a fortune of more than £3.4million (€4million) through their illegal business.
A court in Brussels sentenced Fejzulla to 29 years in prison in 2022, but he fled after the ruling.
Efforts to locate him began in January 2023, but he managed to evade capture by using different vehicles to move around.
He also stayed in multiple residences intermittently and frequently changed phones.
Despite his efforts to stay under the radar, police officers located him last Thursday (12 Sept) in Madrid, Spain.
The 59-year-old Albanian was caught by the National Police as he headed towards a van that had come to pick him up near one of his hideouts.
The crimes Fejzulla was found guilty of were committed between 2014 and 2018, as reported by Need To Know.
The gang he led used fake documents to rent and power homes, where they cultivated cannabis on a large scale.
They also recruited individuals in irregular situations to work on their drug plantations.
The Belgian authorities’ investigation into Fejzulla’s gang led to the dismantling of 13 cannabis plantations.
The Spanish authorities will now decide whether to extradite him to Belgium.
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