Three of the most wanted criminals in Hungary have been arrested in Spain in a joint operation carried out by the Civil Guard and a Rapid Intervention Team of the Hungarian Police.
The operation culminated on July 19 in Calp (Alicante), where the three detainees resided, Hungarian citizens, who were on the list of the most wanted criminals in Europe at the time of their escape, and were also included on the page ” Most Wanted” by EUROPOL.
According to the Civil Guard, those arrested formed a gang dedicated to the manufacture of drugs using sophisticated technology. The criminal group had created a computer-controlled digital infrastructure for the simultaneous cultivation and processing of several thousand Cannabis sativa (hemp) plants in Bács-Kiskun County (Hungary) in 2020 and 2021, first in Kecele and then in the outside of Kecskemet.
The plantation was dismantled on May 21, 2021 by the Debrecen department of the Hungarian Police, seizing 165 kilograms of marijuana and cocaine and assets valued at more than 380 million Hungarian forints. In a subsequent seizure, the agents seized 165 kilograms of marijuana and cocaine from the gang in one of the shipments.
Investigators managed to identify seven members of the criminal organization and two of them were arrested in Hungary shortly after, while the Debrecen District Court issued the European and international arrest warrants against the five fugitives of the criminal organization, to whom who was charged with drug trafficking.
In October 2022, five members of the criminal organization were included in EUROPOL’s “Game Over” campaign, appearing among the 54 most wanted criminals in Europe. It was a unique fact, since it was unprecedented that Hungary had at the same time five criminals on the list of the most wanted “Most Wanted”.
It was in May 2023 when investigators had indications that three of these fugitives could be hiding on the Spanish Costa Blanca, and that, using false identities, they continued to introduce drugs into Hungary, hidden in trucks, with the participation of other compatriots. For this reason, the Hungarian Police contacted the Civil Guard.
The Zala County Prosecutor’s Office, which was supervising the case, requested the assistance of EUROJUST (European Union Agency for Cooperation in Criminal Justice), and the International Cooperation Prosecutor’s Office and the Judicial Authorities of Alicante supported the work, which was It has resulted in arrests and searches at the Calp homes where they were hiding. The joint operation was carried out between the National Investigation Office of the Hungarian Police and the Judicial Police of the Civil Guard of Alicante.
The investigation remains open as two members of the criminal organization are still on the run. Authorities are asking anyone with information about them to call 112. The defendants could face life in prison in their home country if proven guilty.
