Spain detains Germany’s most wanted drug trafficker after joint police operation of the two countries

Spain detains Germany’s most wanted drug trafficker after joint police operation of the two countries

Spanish police, working with German authorities, have arrested Germany’s most wanted drug trafficker in the southern city of Málaga, the National Police announced Monday.

The unnamed fugitive, detained on August 24, was wanted under a European arrest warrant for drug trafficking and organized crime, as well as a separate Spanish judicial warrant.

According to investigators, the suspect led a criminal network that used a warehouse in Spain to load large quantities of narcotics onto trucks bound for Germany via France. The fugitive, described as an expert in boxing and mixed martial arts, became the target of an intensive investigation in 2025 when authorities learned he was hiding in Spain.

To evade capture, the trafficker changed his phone number every two weeks and his identity every three months, police said, noting he had even taken a cybersecurity course in Turkey to learn how to avoid digital tracking. Following extensive surveillance, officers tracked down his brother and arrested the fugitive while he was riding in the passenger seat of his brother’s car.