Alex Trelinski
INFAMOUS British drugs baron Brian Charrington has been arrested again in a Policia Nacional operation that swept up 30 people.
Charrington, 67, was detained at his luxury villa in Altea on Tuesday as part of a swoop against drug trafficking and money laundering in the north of Alicante province.
The Informacion newspaper has reported that Charrington refused to open his armoured front door at 6.00am because he thought he was being visited by bogus police officers.
Charrington’s partner claimed to have phoned the police to complain and was allegedly told not to open the door.
The Policia Nacional even mobilised a trained negotiator to try to end the stand-off, which duly happened.
It emerged that he was assaulted by men pretending to be the police a few months ago.
Sources told Informacion that no drugs were seized from his villa.
Brian Charrington was convicted of smuggling cocaine into an Altea marina in 2013 and given a jail term of nearly 11 years following a trial in autumn 2021.
He was also ordered to pay a fine of over €15 million.
An appeal was made to the Valencian Supreme Court which accounts for him still being free.
His original 2018 trial and conviction was quashed by the Supreme Court over impartiality issues.
In July 2003, a German court jailed him for seven years after convicting him of drug smuggling, and he also spent two years behind bars in France.
The latest Charrington arrest came as the Policia Nacional and Tax Agency officials raided 24 home and business addresses in Altea, Benidorm, Villajoyosa, La Nucia, Javea, and Calpe.
Over €200,000 in cash, a gun, and a kilo of cocaine were seized.
30 people have been arrested including Charrington’s partner and a retired Policia Nacional officer from Benidorm who had been previously detained in another anti-drugs investigation.
The probe is under a secrecy order with inquiries launched in 2022.
It has emerged that most of the detainees have been released and 10 of them, including Charrington, were brought to a Benidorm court on Friday.
They were all bailed but will have to report to a police station every week and have had their passports withdrawn according to Valencian Community High Court of Justice(TSJ).
The remaining group members will be summoned to court over the next few days.
The TSJ says they are facing charges of drug trafficking, money laundering, the illegal possession of weapons, kidnapping, the dissemination of secrets, and belonging to a criminal gang.
READ MORE:
- MUST READ: British ‘narco’ baron Brian Charrington jailed after Costa Blanca cocaine smuggling retrial in Spain
- British drugs smuggler Brian Charrington starts ‘narco’ yacht retrial in Costa Blanca area of Spain
- Infamous British drugs boss Brian Charrington gets his retrial date on the Costa Blanca in Spain
- Jailed notorious British drugs baron Brian Charrington to get a retrial on Spain’s Costa Blanca
