Bounty hunters find most-wanted Hungarian drug lord in Mexico – photos, video

The Hungarian counter-terrorism police unit has announced the return of a notorious Hungarian drug lord arrested in Mexico, who has promptly started serving his jail term.

Most-wanted Hungarian drug lord lived under false name

According to a statement on police.hu on Wednesday, the 49-year-old man was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment in the first instance by Budapest’s Metropolitan Court in 2019, with the decision upheld on appeal by the Metropolitan Court of Appeal.

Prosecutors alleged that between 2014 and 2015, he led an organised crime gang in Hungary trafficking cocaine and MDMA, drawing in his own brothers to the illicit operation.

After the 2020 verdict was handed down, the convict vanished, failing to report to prison; warrants were duly issued first domestically, then across Europe and internationally.

Given the gravity of his crimes, he topped the European Union’s most-wanted fugitives list, the statement added.

He was a taxi driver

Investigators from the National Investigation Office of the Counter-Terrorism Police Service (KR NNI) gathered intelligence suggesting he was hiding in Mexico, posing as a taxi driver in Quintana Roo province.

Mexican authorities mounted an operation, apprehending him in Cancún on 18 April.

As he was residing there under a false name in breach of immigration rules—and ranked among the EU’s most dangerous fugitives—the authorities opted for immediate deportation, flying him back to Hungary on 21 April.

He was conveyed straight to Budapest’s Penitentiary Institution to commence his sentence, the communiqué concluded.

Check out the video of the arrest:

If you missed our previous, crime-related stories:

• Animal rescue exposes shocking neglect: 11-month-old baby found in Budapest flat
• Hungarian police probe suspected gangland killings linked to foreign drug mafias – some victims may never be found