Spain arrests Germany’s most wanted drug trafficker

Spain has arrested a man described as Germany’s most wanted drug trafficker after an investigation that crossed several countries. Police detained him in Málaga on Aug. 24 in cooperation with Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office.

Germany had issued a European arrest warrant for the man over suspicions of drug trafficking and organized crime. His identity has not been officially disclosed, although Spanish media reported that he is 38 and from Pakistan.

The investigation began in 2025, after police received information that the wanted man might be in Spain, where he had previously lived. The criminal group allegedly operated a warehouse there and used trucks to move drugs through France to Germany.

Police said the suspect took extensive precautions to avoid arrest. He changed his telephone number every two weeks and his identity approximately every three months. He had also attended a cybersecurity course in Turkey, where he learned techniques for making his location harder to trace through devices, operating systems and social media.

Investigators initially reached the suspect through his brother. After several days of surveillance in different Spanish provinces, officers spotted the wanted man as a passenger in his brother’s car and arrested him in Málaga.