A British man arrested on his motorbike at a routine Benidorm checkpoint has been approved for extradition by Spain’s National Court.

The Madrid court signed his extradition order in late December but details have only just been disclosed.

The 41-year-old from Dewsbury in West Yorkshire was a key member of a UK drugs gang that ran amphetamine laboratories in North Wales and Merseyside.

He fled to Spain but had an international arrest warrant issued against him.

Unfortunately for the fugutive, a routine police check close to Benidorm’s theme parks in September discovered he was a wanted man, as his identity flagged up a ‘red’ warning on the computer database.

His role in the criminal gang was regarded as ‘key’ and along with 14 others they ran an extensive drug manufacturing and distribution operation.

In one of the amphetamine labs owned by the man, police found enough chemicals to ‘cook’ 3,000 kilos of drugs.

He organised most of the supplies and the production lines of the meth labs.

Police seized drugs with a retail value of €1.3 million and stopped plans to make narcotics worth €2.1 million.

The gang used encrypted messaging systems to communicate with each other with the Benidorm fugitive operating under the handle of ‘lighting fork’.

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