A man suspected of smuggling tons of cannabis from Spain to Germany in a sophisticated operation using "crypto" mobile phones and constant identity changes is in pre-trial detention following his extradition, prosecutors in Frankfurt said on Thursday.
A European arrest warrant had been issued against the 38-year-old for drug trafficking and organized crime, but he had evaded arrest until he was tracked down in the southern Spanish city of Málaga.
Police found the man in a joint operation by Spanish authorities and Germany's Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), the Spanish police reported.
The man was arrested on August 24 and extradited to Germany on Wednesday, said the Frankfurt Public Prosecutor's Office, which is reportedly responsible for the case.
Between June and August 2020, the man is alleged, as a member of a gang, to have transported at least 800 kilograms of cannabis from Spain to Germany by truck on four occasions for trafficking.
While periodically changing his identity, he is said to have run the operation using "crypto" mobile phones - specialized smartphones built to manage digital money and hide private data using blockchain technology.
In April 2023, he managed to flee after being sentenced in Frankfurt to seven years and five months' imprisonment for multiple counts of organized illicit cannabis trafficking. An extensive international manhunt failed to apprehend him until recently.