GANGSTER NICKED
Moment Curtis Warren is arrested months after notorious gangster known as ‘UK’s Pablo Escobar’ was released from prison
A NOTORIOUS gangster dubbed the UK's Pablo Escobar has been arrested just months after he was released from prison.
Curtis Warren, 59, was released from custody in November last year after he was jailed in 2009 for his role in a plot to flood Jersey with cannabis.
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The gangster, who once featured on the Sunday Times rich list thanks to his ill-gotten gains from his drugs empire, was held at 6am for allegedly breaching his Serious Crime Prevention Order.
The National Crime Agency detained Warren, 60, following a dawn raid at a home in South Tyneside.
He is now being quizzed in custody while searches are carried out at the address and another in the Royal Albert Dock area of Liverpool.
The NCA said the alleged breaches “relate to the unauthorised use of mobile phones, vehicles, bank accounts and travel”.
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Investigators are now examining cash, documents and mobile devices seized from the addresses.
Warren's solicitor Anthony Barraclough confirmed the arrest, saying: "There's been an arrest by the National Crime Agency in Tyneside, where Curtis was lawfully situated because he has permission to travel anywhere he wants in England.
"He was arrested at 6am for alleged breaches of his Serious Crime Prevention Order.
"The NCA is saying there are breaches to do with various things like travel and cars - general breaches - and they have a right to arrest him and investigate him.
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"From my understanding, he has done nothing unlawful in any regard."
The operation was supported by Merseyside Police and the North East Regional Organised Crime Unit (NEROCU).
Alison Abbott, from the NCA’s Lifetime Management of Offenders Team, said: “These court orders are vital tools for preventing and deterring future offending.
"Once criminals come onto our radar, they never leave, and the NCA will take action over breaches.”
A breach of a serious crime prevention order is a criminal offence subject to a maximum sentence of five years, an unlimited fine, or both.
Warren rose from the back streets of inner city Liverpool to become an Interpol target who was famously included in the Sunday Times Rich List.
The former drugs king pin - dubbed the "UK's Pablo Escobar" - was jailed for 13 years in 2009 after he tried to flood Jersey with cannabis.
He was forced to serve an extra ten years in prison when he refused to hand over the £198million fortune police believed he had made from international crime.
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