NOTORIOUS drugs baron Curtis Warren has been arrested – just months after being released from prison following a failed plot to smuggle £1million of cannabis into Jersey.
The Liverpool-born gangster, now aged 60, was locked up for 13 years by the Royal Court in 2009 for trying to execute what at the time would have been the Island’s biggest drugs importation.
In 2013 he was ordered to spend a further ten years behind bars after refusing to pay a £198 million confiscation order, and was finally freed last autumn.
Warren, who was once listed on the Sunday Times Rich List, with an estimated fortune of£300 million, was detained in South Tyneside early on Wednesday.
The National Crime Agency did not name Warren, but said that the arrest was in relation to alleged breaches of a Serious Crime Prevention Order.
The order, imposed follow Warren’s release from prison, included restrictions on:
*Travel outside England and Wales.
*Access to communication devices and the internet.
*His ability to borrow money, make transfers, hold trusts or shares, and use foreign or virtual currency.
*Holding assets or property valued at more than £1,000.
*And being involved in commercial imports and exports.
In a statement, the NCA said: ‘National Crime Agency officers have arrested a 60-year-old man from Liverpool on suspicion of committing numerous breaches of his Serious Crime Prevention Order.
‘The order came into force after his release from prison for drug trafficking offences, and the breaches under investigation relate to the unauthorised use of mobile phones, vehicles, bank accounts and travel.
‘NCA officers also carried out searches at the location in Boldon and another address in the Royal Albert Dock area of Liverpool. Mobile devices, documents and a quantity of cash were seized, and they are now being examined by investigators.
‘The operation was supported by Merseyside Police and the North East Regional Organised Crime Unit (NEROCU).’
