Laurence Dollimore
A KINAHAN cartel member has been arrested in Spain in relation to the seizure of 1.2 tonnes of cocaine in Granada and San Sebastian earlier this month.
The suspect was cuffed during follow-up investigations in the days after Policia Nacional uncovered more than €35 million worth of cocaine on November 10.
It is described as one of the biggest hauls on Spanish soil and was made after undercover cops followed a British lorry driver to an area near San Sebastian in the north-west of the country.
Así, excavadora y pala en mano, damos con uno de los mayores alijos de coca en suelo español. 5 detenidos en #Granada y #Guipúzcoa pic.twitter.com/CnZk71II6k
— Policía Nacional (@policia) November 10, 2017
Police then brought in a digger to move the earth which led them to large water containers buried underground which contained the drug.
Five people were arrested by Spanish police, three British nationals and two Spaniards.
Police then arrested the Kinahan cartel drug dealer, from Dublin, who has a number of outstanding warrants for his arrest in relation to drug dealing and possession in the Irish capital.
The man had been working with Kinahan dealers in Birmingham for a number of years and had travelled to Spain from the West Midlands in recent weeks.
The arrested man has been working with senior figures in the cartel who have been based near Birmingham for nearly a decade.
Earlier this year, a number of European Arrest Warrants (EAWs) were issued for senior members of the Kinahan cartel’s leadership.
