Spanish police arrest fugitive drug trafficker hours after court verdict

Spanish security forces have arrested Walid Bara, a drug trafficker, convicted in France in absentia.

The operation was carried out in Madrid just hours after a court verdict was delivered in a case linked to organised crime, Caliber.Az reports, citing French media.

Bara was sentenced by a jury court in Aix-en-Provence to 25 years in prison for his involvement in a double murder committed in 2019 near Marseille at the Formule 1 hotel.

He had been on the run during the trial and was on the wanted list of authorities.

In the same case, other defendants also received lengthy prison sentences, including alleged members and leaders of the criminal network. One of the accused was acquitted.

By Bakhtiyar Abbasov