Romford most wanted fugitive Paul Monk held by Spanish police investigating murder
Paul Monk being arrested. Picture: YouTube - Credit: Archant
A most wanted fugitive is being held by Spanish police investigating the kidnap and murder of a British man whose body washed up on a beach.
Dramatic footage posted online shows the moment Paul Monk, from Romford, was captured by armed Spanish police at his luxury Alicante villa on Tuesday last week.
Guardia Civil officers working with the National Crime Agency (NCA) swooped on the 54-year-old, who was wanted for drug offences, as he oversaw workers laying a marble patio around his swimming pool.
An imitation firearm and 125,000 Euros were recovered from the villa as a helicopter hovered overhead.
Mr Monk was allegedly involved in the handover of 1kg of cocaine in Cockfosters in May 2013 and the seizure of 24kg of cannabis in Colchester in October 2013.
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But his extradition to the UK has now been put on hold while officers investigate the murder of 25-year-old Francis Brennan from Liverpool.
Mr Brennan’s body was discovered in a heavily-taped plastic bag on Zenia beach in Orihuela in March last year, three months after he went missing.
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He is understood to have been kidnapped in Javea, Alicante, by three men disguised as police officers.
Spanish police believe Mr Monk was an associate of Paul Scott, who they named as a suspect in Brennan’s kidnap and murder.
Scott, 32, from Liverpool, was arrested in December when he entered the UK in a light aircraft that landed on a remote airstrip in Norfolk.
The NCA said Scott was the last man standing in a 26-strong organised crime network that plotted to smuggle up to 40 tonnes of drugs into the UK.
He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to import cocaine and was sentenced to 14 years at Liverpool Crown Court in January.
He will face extradition proceedings in July to answer questions over Mr Brennan’s murder.
Mr Monk remains in prison while the Guardia Civil investigation continues.
