14 DAY TRIAL // British officials have arrested one of the UK's most wanted fugitives in Costa Blanca, Spain, a favorite spot for runaways from Britain, which has been dubbed “Costa del Crime” by law enforcement.
The “dangerous fugitive” was sunbathing with his girlfriend outside a luxurious villa in Calpe, The Telegraph writes.
31 year-old Andrew Moran, of Salford, Greater Manchester was tracked down by the UK’s Serious Organised Crime Agency [SOCA].
Armed teams descended on the fugitive and his girlfriend, while Moran “violently resisted” getting arrested in Spain.
Police have been hounding him for almost four years, ever since he escaped during his trial on February 2009. He took off from Burnley Crown Court after injuring four guards.
He was being tried for an armed robbery at Royal Mail guards. He got off with £25,000 ($38,400 / €29,600) after threatening them with a firearm, a machete and baseball bat and assaulting one of the guards.
According to the Independent, he was placed on the Serious Organised Crime Agency's most wanted list after he was convicted of conspiracy to commit armed robbery.
One of his accomplices, 29-year-old Stephen Devalda, was also arrested in Spain, at a hotel in Marbella in 2011. He has been convicted to nine years and eight months in jail.
A spokesperson for Spain's National Police detailed that, when Moran was arrested on Saturday, May 11, he was armed. Officers found two handguns and a machete on him, along with some 60 bullets.
Moran has a court date in Spain's capital city of Madrid on Monday and he will be moved over to the UK afterwards.
“Extradition proceedings are now under way,” reports Det. Ch. Insp Janet Hudson, of the north-west regional organized crime unit.
“It just goes to show that we will stop at nothing to capture criminals wherever they are in the world,” she adds.