Moment Albanian drugs lord, exposed in Mail’s ‘Narcos’ documentary for flooding UK with cocaine, is finally arrested by team of armed police in Istanbul with Colombian passport

A fugitive drug dealer, exposed in the Mail’s acclaimed documentary ‘Albanian Narcos’ for flooding the UK with cocaine, has been arrested by armed police in Turkey.

Dritan Rexhepi, aged in his 40s, was held in a dramatic operation after his details were circulated in an Interpol red notice for drug trafficking and other crimes including murder.

The international crime magnate, who was previously on Scotland Yard’s most wanted list due to his close links to England, was said to be the leader of an international drug cartel called Kompanio Bello, which transports drugs from South America to Europe.

The Interpol notification was issued by Italian and Albanian judicial authorities for crimes of “intentional homicide, drugs, kidnapping/deprivation of liberty, falsification of travel documents, weapons and ammunition.”

Authorities in Turkey said the man nicknamed the “King of Cocaine” entered the country through Istanbul airport with a Colombian passport registered to “Benjamín Omar Pérez García.”

“Dritan Rexhepi, leader of the ‘Kompanio Bello’ drug cartel, which exported drugs from South America to Europe, was arrested,” Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said in X

Armed police stood guard as Rexhepi was taken from his hiding place in Istanbul, Turkey.

A triumphant police video of his arrest showed anti-narcotics officers in bulletproof vests removing cash, jewelery and watches from a safe at his hideout in a luxury apartment block in Istanbul. A revolver, believed to have belonged to the convicted murderer, was also recovered.

As revealed in the shocking Mail Albanian documentary Narcos: bullets, bloodshed and Britain In Mail+ and Mail Online and the accompanying two-part investigation published earlier this year, Rexhepi’s whereabouts had been a mystery since his early release from prison in Ecuador two years ago.

While behind bars in the South American country, he continued to plan the supply of large quantities of cocaine to the United Kingdom, where he was a key target of the National Crime Agency, the British version of the National Crime Agency.

In the Mail’s multimedia investigation in March, we revealed how Albanian drug gangs ensured cocaine can now be sourced in Britain faster than a pizza delivery. In Ecuador, a ruthless local gangster working for a gang leader known as ‘Carlos the Devil’ told us of the terrifying bloodshed behind the operation to export cocaine to the UK.

The man, whom we called Junior, seemed too scared to answer questions about Rexhepi. When asked about Albanian gangsters, linked to a series of drug-related mafia murders in Ecuador, he said: “If you fail, they kill you.”

A prosecutor who has survived five murder plots in Ecuador said of the Albanian drug traffickers there: “They are the masterminds and they hire the hitmen.”

Under very suspicious circumstances, Rexhepi was released early from a 13-year sentence for drug trafficking in Ecuador. His prison sentence did not put an end to his criminal operations.

From his cell in the capital Quito, he allegedly used an encrypted mobile phone to coordinate a “transnational criminal federation” of Albanian drug traffickers known as Kompania Bello. A key destination for his illicit cargo was the UK, with its £2bn cocaine market.

Rexhepi is also believed to have ordered the murder of an innocent man after a rival Albanian drug gang allegedly stole millions of pounds worth of cocaine which he had smuggled into Portsmouth on a container ship packed with bananas.

The victim’s only “crime” (he was kidnapped and murdered in Albania) was being the brother of someone who had supposedly betrayed Rexhepi by sending drugs.

The video showed several vehicles heading to the hideout in Istanbul, Türkiye.

Authorities said the man nicknamed the ‘King of Cocaine’ entered Turkey through Istanbul airport with a Colombian passport registered in the name ‘Benjamín Omar Pérez García’.

In dramatic images the man is seen detained by armed Turkish police.

Dritan Rexhepi, aged in his 40s, was held in a dramatic operation after his details were circulated in an Interpol red notice for drug trafficking and other crimes including murder.

Several months after his release from prison, the criminal mastermind disappeared from the radar in Ecuador, raising alarm bells in the alleged narco-state, the United Kingdom, other parts of Western Europe and Albania.

In Albania he has been imprisoned in absentia for 25 years for two murders (including that of a police officer) and is suspected of other murders. He is also wanted in Italy and Belgium and has multiple identities.

He appeared on Scotland Yard’s most wanted foreign criminals list ten years ago, when he was thought to be hiding in the UK, and has links to London, Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire.

According to Europol, what set Rexhepi’s syndicate apart from others was the way it controlled the entire supply chain: from sourcing cocaine for export to wholesale distribution and street sales in cities such as Brighton, as we reveal in our documentary and first part of the Mail investigation.

Ecuadorian law enforcement officials, who share intelligence with the NCA, admitted they were unsure of the Cocaine King’s location.

Officially, he was supposed to sign a post-release log twice a month as a condition of his freedom, but several sources said they suspected someone else was doing it on his behalf.

Footage showed Turkish authorities outside the building where Rexhepi was arrested.

Anti-narcotics teams track the suspect’s belongings during a raid in Istanbul, Turkey.

Rexhepi’s whereabouts had been a mystery since his early release from prison in Ecuador two years ago. In the photo: anti-narcotics teams search the hideout.

A police video of his arrest showed anti-narcotics officers in bulletproof vests removing cash, jewelry and watches from a safe at his hideout in a luxury apartment block in Istanbul.

Among the items recovered during the raid were watches and jewelry.

The video showed police searching a large safe and revealing its expensive contents.

According to an anti-narcotics chief, an investigation was underway into Rexhepi’s partner who made trips to the Colombian capital, Bogotá.

“We have no doubt that he may be carrying out or re-carrying illegal activities through his partner,” he told the Mail, who spent a month in Ecuador investigating Albanian drug traffickers.

The trail seemed to have gone cold until Rexhepi turned up in Turkey in a triumph for global law enforcement.