Pubdate: Sun, 27 Apr 2008 Source: Observer, The (UK) Copyright: 2008 The Observer Contact: http://www.observer.co.uk/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/315 Author: Gerard Couzens in Malaga Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis) LUCK RUNS OUT FOR FUGITIVE DRUG LORD Boastful 'Baby' treated his Spanish jailers to a brothel before escaping; now he's back in prison Spanish police have captured one of the world's most prolific cannabis smugglers after he escaped jail with the help of prison guards in his pay. Mohamed Taieb Ahmed, nicknamed El Nene - The Baby - was arrested after being stopped in a sports car belonging to his brother in Spain's north African enclave of Ceuta. He was carrying false papers and police had to identify him by his fingerprints. He is expected to be extradited to Morocco this week, more than four months after walking out of a jail in the town of Kenitra, where he had served three years of an eight-year sentence for drugs trafficking and bribing civil servants. El Nene was well known in his native Ceuta, where Arabic-speaking Muslims make up about 40 per cent of the 70,000-strong population. He started out as an errand boy for drug pushers in the impoverished hillside neighbourhood of Principe Alfonso, where half of Ceuta's Muslims live. But by the age of 16 he was aiding the international drugs traffickers plying the route between north Africa and southern Europe - and soon after launched his own organisation. El Nene delighted in taking video footage of his drugs runs and posting it on the internet. And when his powerful motorboats outran Civil Guard patrols as he crossed the Strait of Gibraltar he used to lower his trousers and bare his backside at them. El Nene, 32, enjoyed dual Spanish-Moroccan nationality, lived between the two countries and boasted of having a multi-million-pound fortune. The authorities estimate that about one in 10 joints smoked by Spaniards contain cannabis trafficked by his organisation. The Spanish police calculate he is behind the introduction of 50 tons of cannabis a year into Europe through Andalucia, nine miles away from the north African coast at the narrowest point of the Strait of Gibraltar. Many of his ill-gained millions have been laundered through luxury villas in an upmarket neighbourhood near Tetuan and businesses registered in relatives' names. The life of luxury he bought himself in his Moroccan jail has served only to heighten his legendary status among teenage school dropouts in Ceuta hoping to become the next El Nene. Prison staff turned his cell into a luxury suite complete with a plasma TV, DVD player and a laptop with internet access in return for bribes of money, motorbikes and cars. He regularly ordered in takeaways from some of Kenitra's best restaurants and is even said to have been allowed out on several occasions to treat guards to free dinners and even a night in a local brothel. He disappeared from prison on 7 December last year, but Moroccan authorities only discovered he was gone after an anonymous tip-off. He is believed to have re-entered Ceuta on a false passport. Eight prison workers at the jail he escaped from have been sentenced to between two months and two years in prison. A spokesman for Spain's National Police, who captured El Nene on Wednesday on an international arrest warrant issued by Morocco, said: 'He boasted of having more millions than years of age. The prison he was being held in was supposed to be a high-security jail. But he had three cells with all kinds of luxuries including the latest hi-tech equipment.' A police source added: 'We believe he's been continuing to run his drugs empire from his cell. We've had him under surveillance since he entered Ceuta, but we couldn't do anything until we had the international arrest warrant in our hands. 'He wasn't armed when we arrested him and he didn't put up any resistance. I simply think we caught him unawares.' Jenaro Garcia-Arreciado, a Ceuta-based government spokesman, said: 'This is good news for everyone because of the type of activity he dedicated himself to and because places like Ceuta are now better off than before.' - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin