Rob Horgan
A SUSPECT in a €100 million cocaine smuggling operation has been named as one of 10 most wanted British fugitives thought to be hiding out in Spain.
The other nine men will be named later today in a UK crackdown on runaway criminals.
Detectives believe David McDermott fled to Spain after his drug stash was seized frozen inside Argentinian beef at Tilbury docks, UK.
McDermott, 41, from Ormskirk, West Lancashire, is wanted for conspiracy to import drugs and conspiracy to blackmail.
He is 5ft 11in tall with a two-inch scar on his wrist.
McDermott and the nine other men feature as part of the Operation Captura crackdown on British fugitives thought to be living in Spain.
They are wanted for crimes including rape, child sex attacks, manslaughter and drug trafficking.
Inspector Olga Lizana, head of Spain’s fugitive unit, said the ‘easy life’ offered to runaway criminals is not on offer in SPain
“There’s a big British community with its own schools, doctors, supermarkets and everything else,” she said.
“You don’t even need to know the language, so it’s a good place for them to come and hide.
“But we are catching more and more, so it is not a safe place for them to be.”
Operation Captura appeals have helped bring 65 out of 76 suspects to justice in the UK.
