Haredin Fejzulla, the 58-year-old Albanian, sentenced by the Belgian authorities to 29 years in prison, has been arrested by the National Police in Madrid.
An operation by the Spanish National Police led to the arrest of 10 people in the Carabanchel neighborhood of Madrid, including H. Fejzulla, accused of leading a gang based in Belgium and dedicated to the cultivation and trafficking of cannabis, a business illegal with which they accumulated a fortune of more than four million euros.
He was sentenced in 2022 to 29 years in prison by the Brussels court, but after the verdict he escaped.
According to the Police, investigations to find him began in January 2023, due to suspicions that he could be hiding in Madrid. The fugitive took numerous security measures to avoid being located and had various vehicles with which he traveled hidden, as well as numerous houses where he spent the night intermittently.
He also changed his mobile phone regularly. However, he was found last Thursday in the Carabanchel neighborhood when he was walking towards a van that had gone to look for him near one of his retreats.
The National Police arrested Haredi Fejzulla according to an arrest warrant issued by the Belgian authorities, where he was sentenced to more than 29 years in prison for 13 crimes of drug trafficking, membership in a criminal organization and forgery of documents committed between 2014 and 2018. After his arrest, he was placed at the disposal of the Central Investigative Court of the National Court, which must decide whether to extradite him to Belgium.
The network had a well-defined hierarchical structure, with the fugitive at the top coordinating all activities. At the lower levels there were gardeners, cleaners, cash collectors and logistics managers.
The criminal group used false documentation to rent houses and sign electricity contracts in the flats where they mass cultivated cannabis. They also recruited people in an irregular situation to work in drug crops. The investigation by the Belgian authorities against the Haredin Fejzulla gang culminated in the dismantling of 13 cannabis plantations and their arrest.
However, after being convicted, he managed to escape and Belgium issued three European Arrest Warrants against him. He was on Europol's list of Europe's most wanted fugitives, which brings together the continent's most wanted fugitives from justice.
????Detenido en #Madrid uno de los “EUROPE'S MOST WANTED” reclamado por tráfico de drogas
— National Police (@policia) September 16, 2024
Este hombre albanés había sido condenado a más de años de prisión en #Bélgica por 13 cargos por tráfico de drogas, pertenencia a organización criminal y falsification of documents pic.twitter.com/bXd2Gs2WS9