A HOLLYWOOD-style plot to break a French drug cartel boss out of a Costa del Sol prison using a helicopter has been foiled by heavily armed police.
The criminal network had planned to drop the helicopter directly into the wing where the prisoner was held to extract and fly him to freedom, according to national daily El Español.
But officers got a tip-off and threw a 48-hour ring of steel around Alhaurin de la Torre, a major provincial jail just inland from Malaga, to prevent the aircraft from landing in the courtyard.
Up to four Guardia Civil vehicles packed with armed agents maintained a vigil outside the facility until last Saturday.
But the audacious rescue mission was already doomed to fail before the helicopter was even fuelled.
The Ministry of Interior had secretly transferred the unnamed capo to another mainland facility days earlier.
His subordinates were completely unaware of the move and continued finalising their extraction plans.
Anti-drug units maintained their deployment for two days in case the gang attempted the landing anyway.
It is not the first time AlhaurÃn de la Torre has housed high-profile figures.
The sprawling complex is currently home to Steven Lyons, the 46-year-old Scottish crime boss who was extradited to Spain in June to face organised crime and money laundering charges after being arrested in Bali.
Authorities had to move Michael Riley — the hitman accused of shooting Lyons’ brother Eddie Lyons Jnr and associate Ross Monaghan in a Fuengirola bar — to a prison in Galicia just days before Lyons arrived to prevent a clash behind bars.
Other famous former inmates include the late Marbella mayor and Atletico Madrid president Jesus Gil, who spent several nights there in 2002, and former world boxing champion Scott Harrison, who was locked up there in 2012.
Prison sources told El Español that this latest incident highlights the terrifying logistical power of international mafias operating on the coast, who use their vast resources to move drugs, weapons and money.
While it sounded farfetched, authorities took the threat seriously enough – there are precedents of European drug lords using helicopters to escape.
The attempted breakout has sparked a wider debate about the challenge of stopping cartel bosses from running their criminal empires from behind bars.
READ MORE: BREAKING: British drug kingpin Brian Charrington dies on Costa Blanca before prison fate sealed
France has recently introduced high-security units, drone detection technology and communication jammers to isolate mafia leaders.
Experts are now calling for Spain to adopt similar measures, including better police coordination and specialised training for prison staff who monitor inmate behaviour and hierarchies.
The Tu Abandono Me Puede Matar (TAMPM) prison workers’ union warned that organised crime has become an authentic daily threat inside Spanish jails for both illicit activities and escape attempts.
The French capo remains securely behind bars at a different undisclosed prison.
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