Walter Finch
A NOTORIOUS drug baron on the run from jail has been captured after a high speed car chase in which officers had to shoot out his tyres.
Local police initially did not realise they were pursuing ‘Hashish king’ Antonio Sevillano, who had been wanted since he absconded from jail in March while on day release.
But when they attempted to stop a driver talking on his phone near Marbella, the man immediately sped off recklessly in his Mercedes.
Sources say that Sevillano drove at high speeds through Atalaya Golf near San Pedro, the area of his initial downfall where he was originally arrested in 2011.
Sevillano continued to hare through populated areas, running red lights and ploughing through pedestrian crossings as he approached Estepona.
Having thought he had lost his pursuers, Sevillano made one aborted attempt to escape on foot, only for police to arrive on the scene.
Despite being surrounded by cops with their guns drawn, the fugitive got back into his car and fled once again – until police shot out the tyre on his right rear wheel.
After realising he could not continue, the drug baron abandoned the car on the hard shoulder of the A-7 and ran away until he was eventually captured.
It was only then that the Marbella police realised who they had captured.
He was found to be in possession of four mobile phones and two allegedly fake driving licences.
Sevillano had been wanted since the end of March, when a warrant for his arrest was issued by Huelva’s provincial court.
He was serving a sentence of 10 and a half years in prison and had been fined a total of 70 million euros for a 3.6 tonne haul of hashish in August 2011.
Sevillano had been enjoying semi-freedom in a social integration centre (CIS) in Galicia, where he worked as a chauffeur for his lawyer during the day.
He had been granted a leave of absence in March to attend a trial in Seville but failed to return, prompting the search and arrest warrant.
Police consider Sevillano to be one of the ‘kings of hashish’ and believe that he is linked with the majority of the hashish shipments exported to Europe in the 2000s.
He allegedly had contacts with producers in Morocco and controlled markets in the UK, France and the Netherlands.
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