Dilip Kuner
A BRIT fugitive who fled to Spain after escaping from jail has had an extra two years added to his sentence.
Daniel Dobbs, 31, was convicted of trafficking heroin and amphetamines and sentenced to 13-and-a-half years behind bars in January 2014.
On November 2, 2018, Dobbs, from Malton in North Yorkshire and known as ‘Dobbo’ to his friends, was found to be missing from his prison cell in South Yorkshire.
The UK’s National Crime Agency then issued a wanted appeal for information on his whereabouts.
Last year, the NCA tracked him down to Spain. He was living under a false identity. Guardia Civil officers arrested Dobbs during an investigation into an illegal cigarette factory in Malaga.
The counterfeit cigarettes were made using low quality tobacco in unhygienic conditions.
Officers seized more than 3 million counterfeit cigarettes; 20 kilos of hashish; 144 kilos of marihuana; three weapons; eight GPS tracking devices and one radio jamming device.
In total, 20 people were arrested after police located and raided the underground factory.
Six people of Ukrainian nationality were found trapped inside the Malaga based factory with serious breathing difficulties after their air supply was cut by police unaware of their existence.
The ‘workers’ were found to have been living in unsanitary conditions when the entrance to the factory was finally located, abandoned to their fate as the arrested members of the criminal organisation failed to tell police they were trapped.
The facility near Coin, was hidden under horse stables and had a complete production line that allowed the manufacture of more than 3,500 cigarettes per hour.
Dobbs was returned to the UK in March 2020 and on July 21, was sentenced to 24 months in prison for escape from lawful custody, and 12 months concurrently for improper use of an identity document at Lewes Crown Court.
These will run consecutively with the remainder of his 13-and-a half-year sentence.
Alison Abbott, of the NCA’s offender lifetime management unit, said: “It is apparent that Dobbs is a harmful and persistent offender who thought he could escape the UK and avoid detection. But together with international partners, we tracked him down, and now he’s back behind bars where he belongs.
“The NCA pursues fugitives relentlessly. No matter where they are, nor how long it takes, we will catch up with those who flee UK justice.”
