One of Britain’s “most wanted” men has been returned to the country charged with his alleged role in an international drugs trafficking plot.
Michael Paul Moogan, who was arrested in Dubai last April, had been wanted by the National Crime Agency (NCA) for eight years.
The 36-year-old, originally from Croxteth, Liverpool, was flown back to the UK on Monday and appeared at Manchester Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday morning, an NCA spokesman said.
Moogan, who featured as part of a most wanted fugitives campaign, was arrested on April 21 last year as part of a joint operation between the NCA, Dubai Police and Interpol in Abu Dhabi.
He is alleged to have gone on the run in October 2013 after a raid on a Rotterdam cafe, suspected of being used as a front for meetings between drug traffickers and cartels and central to an alleged plot to bring hundreds of kilos of cocaine into the UK every week.
Working with the Dutch National Crime Squad, the NCA became aware of information that allegedly linked Moogan and two other British men to the Cafe de Ketel – a business not open to the public that could only be entered via a security system.
Moogan, accused of conspiring to traffic cocaine between March 31 and October 29 2013, is next due to appear at Manchester Crown Court on August 9.
NCA deputy director of investigations Miles Bonfield said: “We are extremely grateful to partners for their assistance in ensuring the suspect was traced and returned to the UK.
“I particularly want to thank the Dubai Police and detectives from the General Department of Criminal Investigation in Dubai who used all the techniques at their disposal to assist us.”
