Michael Moogan initially disappeared after a raid on a café in Rotterdam, Holland, in October 2013 which was suspected of being a front for meetings between drug traffickers and international cartels.
Working with the Dutch National Crime Squad, the National Crime Agency (NCA) became aware of information allegedly linking Moogan and two other British men to the Café de Ketel – a business closed to the public which could only be entered via a security system. Investigators believe the café was the hub for a conspiracy to bring hundreds of kilos of cocaine into the UK every week.
Michael Moogan, from Croxteth, had been on the run for eight years before his arrest in Dubai earlier this year. He had featured in a most wanted fugitives campaign and was arrested in Dubai as part of a joint operation between the NCA, Dubai Police and Interpol in Abu Dhabi.
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He is alleged to have gone on the run in October 2013 after a raid on the Rotterdam cafe.
Moogan and his associates were involved in plans to import drugs from Latin America to the EU. He had the ability to obtain as much as 500,000 Euros at a time to fund his cocaine deals from South American suppliers who would ship the Class A drug to Belgium.
He did not need to pay for deals in instalments as is common in large scale drugs supply. Instead, he could pay in lump sums via Iraqi nationals based in the UK.
Moogan told criminal contacts that he brought cocaine into the UK concealed in meat from Argentina. Evidence also showed he had the ability to bribe port officials to help ensure his drugs were not stopped.
As well as shipping from South America, Moogan used road transport networks stretching from Bulgaria to Latvia, Spain and Belgium to facilitate the movement of cocaine to the UK. Moogan remained in hiding until April last year when he was arrested by Dubai Police.
NCA officers established Moogan was using numerous false identities to avoid capture. Dubai Police believe that after entering the UAE using a different identity, he tried to avoid CCTV in an attempt to elude detectives who used their latest capabilities to track him down.
He had a German passport, and also a driver’s licence and citizen card in the name of Michael Dier but displaying his own image. Moogan was the 86th person arrested under Operation Captura – an NCA fugitive campaign run in conjunction with Crimestoppers.
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