0:00:02 > 0:00:04- Come on! - On the run...
0:00:04 > 0:00:06- Get back here! - ..and over here.
0:00:06 > 0:00:08Hands out now. Hands out!
0:00:08 > 0:00:12When foreign criminals flee their home countries,
0:00:12 > 0:00:14many hide out in the UK.
0:00:14 > 0:00:17- Give me your hands.- But if they think they're safe, they're wrong.
0:00:17 > 0:00:19They know they're wanted.
0:00:19 > 0:00:22A lot of these people are waiting for that knock on the door.
0:00:22 > 0:00:26But the traffic in fugitives isn't all one way.
0:00:26 > 0:00:29Across Europe, there are hundreds of British criminals
0:00:29 > 0:00:32also trying to escape justice,
0:00:32 > 0:00:35from the sun-drenched Costas
0:00:35 > 0:00:38to the busy streets of the Dutch capital
0:00:38 > 0:00:41this is how the police take down the fugitives...
0:00:41 > 0:00:44You're under arrest under the Extradition Act 2003.
0:00:44 > 0:00:45Police officer!
0:00:45 > 0:00:47..both at home and abroad.
0:00:55 > 0:00:57On today's programme,
0:00:57 > 0:01:00police are sure they've caught a drug dealer
0:01:00 > 0:01:02in this chance encounter.
0:01:02 > 0:01:04He's not so convinced.
0:01:04 > 0:01:07- Is that you?- No. - Who are you?- Damian.
0:01:07 > 0:01:10- Have you got any ID with you, Damian?- Yeah.
0:01:10 > 0:01:12It's not, that's you, that is.
0:01:13 > 0:01:17In east London, the Metropolitan Police's extradition team
0:01:17 > 0:01:21are on the hunt for a man with a history of domestic violence.
0:01:21 > 0:01:24Caused a really serious injury in one particular assault.
0:01:24 > 0:01:28It's alleged that he's burnt her with a cigarette stub.
0:01:28 > 0:01:32And how intelligence from the National Crime Agency
0:01:32 > 0:01:36led to the dramatic arrest of this card-playing criminal
0:01:36 > 0:01:38in a Spanish bar.
0:01:38 > 0:01:39Once we knew what league he was playing in,
0:01:39 > 0:01:41what games he was playing in,
0:01:41 > 0:01:43we could work out where he was going to be and at what time.
0:01:47 > 0:01:51London, home to more than 8.5 million people.
0:01:51 > 0:01:55It's also home to the specialist unit whose work it is
0:01:55 > 0:01:58to arrest foreign criminals on the run in the capital.
0:01:59 > 0:02:04Around 40% of the population of London come from other countries.
0:02:04 > 0:02:06Officers from the extradition unit
0:02:06 > 0:02:09capture over 500 foreign fugitives each year.
0:02:09 > 0:02:14But many more are hiding out amongst the city's law-abiding citizens.
0:02:14 > 0:02:15Police, can you open the door, please?
0:02:15 > 0:02:17Trying to find people in London
0:02:17 > 0:02:20is searching for a needle in a haystack.
0:02:20 > 0:02:23We have to go and try and find these people
0:02:23 > 0:02:26and it means going from address to address
0:02:26 > 0:02:29and getting up very early in all weathers
0:02:29 > 0:02:30but that's the nature of the work.
0:02:32 > 0:02:36DS Pete Rance and his colleague DC Jamie Darby
0:02:36 > 0:02:38are out on the road in south-west London.
0:02:39 > 0:02:41Their next target tonight
0:02:41 > 0:02:46is a man convicted of domestic violence offences in Belgium.
0:02:46 > 0:02:48He's caused a really serious injury.
0:02:49 > 0:02:52And reading the warrant,
0:02:52 > 0:02:54it's alleged
0:02:54 > 0:02:59that it's systematic abuse over a period of six years
0:02:59 > 0:03:02between 2002 and 2008.
0:03:02 > 0:03:04In one particular assault,
0:03:04 > 0:03:10it's alleged that he's burnt her with a cigarette stub.
0:03:10 > 0:03:14So, that gives you a flavour of the type of violence
0:03:14 > 0:03:18that was being, or alleged to have been, used against this lady.
0:03:20 > 0:03:22Pete and Jamie scope out the neighbourhood,
0:03:22 > 0:03:26trying to work out if the fugitive is in before knocking on the door.
0:03:32 > 0:03:34Hello, sorry to trouble you. From the police.
0:03:34 > 0:03:37Just need to know who lives at this address. It's probably...
0:03:37 > 0:03:39- No speak English. - No speak English, OK.
0:03:39 > 0:03:42Hello, we just need to know who lives at this address.
0:03:42 > 0:03:43What's your family name?
0:03:43 > 0:03:45Never absolutely certain when you turn up
0:03:45 > 0:03:46that people are either going to be in
0:03:46 > 0:03:48or indeed that they haven't moved on.
0:03:48 > 0:03:51So, it's about approaching it, making an approach,
0:03:51 > 0:03:53speaking to the people inside,
0:03:53 > 0:03:56and trying to ascertain who does live there.
0:03:56 > 0:03:59Sorry to trouble you. OK, thank you. Bye-bye.
0:03:59 > 0:04:01The family confirm to Pete that this is the home
0:04:01 > 0:04:03of the man they're after.
0:04:03 > 0:04:06He's gone to the shops. He'll be back in half an hour.
0:04:06 > 0:04:10They've just missed him by a matter of minutes.
0:04:10 > 0:04:12The detectives are left with little choice
0:04:12 > 0:04:14but to wait and see if he comes back.
0:04:15 > 0:04:18She obviously knows the police have been round now.
0:04:18 > 0:04:21If he is waiting for the knock on the door
0:04:21 > 0:04:25and she knows he's waiting for the knock on the door, for this...
0:04:25 > 0:04:29for this matter, some years ago now in Belgium,
0:04:29 > 0:04:31then it's likely she's going to call him
0:04:31 > 0:04:35and tell him that the police have been to the address.
0:04:35 > 0:04:38Hopefully, when we've spoken to her and her sons,
0:04:38 > 0:04:44we've been suitably sort of vague, for want of a better description,
0:04:44 > 0:04:47to not raise the alarm that we're there to arrest him.
0:04:49 > 0:04:51Just as they're about to give up and leave,
0:04:51 > 0:04:54a man comes up and knocks on Pete's window.
0:04:54 > 0:04:58Let me just park up. We'll come and talk to you, don't worry.
0:04:58 > 0:04:59This is our man.
0:05:00 > 0:05:02That's how your luck can go.
0:05:02 > 0:05:05I tell you what, come and sit in the back of the car.
0:05:05 > 0:05:07Jump on there. Have you got some ID, have you?
0:05:07 > 0:05:08- Yes, yes.- I'm Jamie Darby.
0:05:08 > 0:05:11I'm a DC from the extradition unit up at New Scotland Yard.
0:05:11 > 0:05:12Unfortunately for you,
0:05:12 > 0:05:15you're under arrest under a European Arrest Warrant for Belgium,
0:05:15 > 0:05:17- for an alleged assault, OK? - You're not in trouble in the UK.
0:05:17 > 0:05:19- No, sir.- No problem here.
0:05:19 > 0:05:21But there's a warrant been issued in Belgium
0:05:21 > 0:05:23and Belgium have asked us to execute the warrant,
0:05:23 > 0:05:26- it's a European Arrest Warrant. - Yes, but I...- So, listen.
0:05:26 > 0:05:28So, you have to go to court in London.
0:05:28 > 0:05:32The man protests that his family life is now a happy one.
0:05:32 > 0:05:35But that won't wash when he hasn't finished doing time
0:05:35 > 0:05:38for the domestic violence offences in his past.
0:05:39 > 0:05:43As the officers escort him into his flat to collect his passport,
0:05:43 > 0:05:45Pete's French comes in handy.
0:05:45 > 0:05:47..laisse un message...
0:05:47 > 0:05:52- Tu peux telephoner Charlie dans la voiture.- Merci.
0:05:52 > 0:05:54My phone is going to die.
0:05:54 > 0:05:58- OK.- He already come back...- Are you going to leave your phone here?
0:05:58 > 0:06:02Il ne va pas a l'ecole demain. Tu l'amenes avec toi.
0:06:02 > 0:06:05Don't go to the school tomorrow.
0:06:05 > 0:06:07After saying goodbye to his wife and children,
0:06:07 > 0:06:09the fugitive is taken into custody.
0:06:12 > 0:06:14It sums up what police work can be like.
0:06:14 > 0:06:16You know, you think you've missed it.
0:06:16 > 0:06:19I was completely prepared to come away from that address,
0:06:19 > 0:06:22and, you know, regroup and have a look at it for another day,
0:06:22 > 0:06:24and the next thing you know,
0:06:24 > 0:06:27he's knocking on the window of the car, offering himself up.
0:06:27 > 0:06:29So, it's completely like that, you know.
0:06:29 > 0:06:34One day... One day, you get a bit of luck and other days,
0:06:34 > 0:06:36you could sit there for hours and he wouldn't come back
0:06:36 > 0:06:38and it's just par for the course, really.
0:06:47 > 0:06:49For British fugitives on the run,
0:06:49 > 0:06:52the Costa Blanca, packed with tourists,
0:06:52 > 0:06:54is an ideal place to hide from the law.
0:06:56 > 0:07:00In the seaside resort of Calpe, 40 miles north of Alicante,
0:07:00 > 0:07:04pubs and cafes welcome British customers with open arms.
0:07:09 > 0:07:14In one popular bar, as night fell on a September evening in 2014,
0:07:14 > 0:07:18a group of British expats were meeting up for a card game.
0:07:18 > 0:07:21One of the players really was using his poker face.
0:07:24 > 0:07:26He was trying to ask for another beer.
0:07:27 > 0:07:30So, I told him, "This is serious stuff, so stop drinking."
0:07:32 > 0:07:37The man gambling with his freedom was cocaine smuggler Robert Knight.
0:07:37 > 0:07:40He'd fled to Spain to escape a long stint in a British jail
0:07:40 > 0:07:42six years earlier.
0:07:44 > 0:07:48Knight was part of an organised gang of smugglers based in Birmingham.
0:07:50 > 0:07:55Back in early 2008, West Midlands Police were on their trail.
0:07:57 > 0:08:00They knew the criminals had imported two million cigarettes
0:08:00 > 0:08:04and large quantities of drugs worth almost £1 million into the UK.
0:08:06 > 0:08:09We had intelligence in relation to all the members
0:08:09 > 0:08:11of this organised crime group.
0:08:11 > 0:08:13He was the one with the contacts,
0:08:13 > 0:08:16he was the one facilitating drugs.
0:08:16 > 0:08:20Knight and his gang had devised a clever way of getting drugs
0:08:20 > 0:08:23past airport security and into the UK.
0:08:23 > 0:08:27Cocaine was coming in library books from South America
0:08:27 > 0:08:30and I think we recovered seven kilos of cocaine.
0:08:30 > 0:08:32The more we investigated,
0:08:32 > 0:08:35the more we realised that Rob Knight was the one that was
0:08:35 > 0:08:39really making sure that everybody knew what they were doing,
0:08:39 > 0:08:42he was making sure that contacts abroad were paid,
0:08:42 > 0:08:46and it was massively important to us to find him and arrest him.
0:08:48 > 0:08:52Undercover officers spent weeks watching Knight's every move,
0:08:52 > 0:08:56photographing him outside the shop used to store his contraband.
0:08:57 > 0:09:03Then they seized a shipment of cocaine worth £300,000 at Heathrow.
0:09:03 > 0:09:05It was time to make an arrest.
0:09:05 > 0:09:07But the move came too late.
0:09:07 > 0:09:10We went to his place of work and we must have missed him
0:09:10 > 0:09:13by about literally two minutes.
0:09:13 > 0:09:17We know that he left literally as a police vehicle was pulling up.
0:09:17 > 0:09:18Inside the shop,
0:09:18 > 0:09:22they found half a million pounds' worth of illegal tobacco.
0:09:24 > 0:09:25We found two million cigarettes.
0:09:25 > 0:09:28They were bringing it in floor tiling rolls,
0:09:28 > 0:09:30which were hollow in the middle.
0:09:32 > 0:09:35But there was no sign of Robert Knight,
0:09:35 > 0:09:38the brains behind the huge smuggling racket.
0:09:38 > 0:09:40It seemed he could have fled to Spain.
0:09:42 > 0:09:45We thought he was in the region of Estepona in Spain.
0:09:45 > 0:09:49We knew that he had been seen there by different people
0:09:49 > 0:09:50who'd put reports in.
0:09:50 > 0:09:52And we knew from previous intelligence
0:09:52 > 0:09:55he knew that area and because of the expat community there,
0:09:55 > 0:09:58he could fit in there without really showing out.
0:09:58 > 0:10:02For five years, Knight evaded capture.
0:10:02 > 0:10:06Then in 2013, police appealed for the public's help.
0:10:08 > 0:10:11Number seven tonight is Robert Mark Knight.
0:10:12 > 0:10:14In Spain too,
0:10:14 > 0:10:18a Crimestoppers campaign on the Costas reminded holiday-makers
0:10:18 > 0:10:20that the drug and tobacco smuggler
0:10:20 > 0:10:23was one of the UK's most wanted fugitives.
0:10:26 > 0:10:28But would the new appeal lead to the information
0:10:28 > 0:10:31police needed to find him?
0:10:31 > 0:10:33It was unfinished business for us.
0:10:33 > 0:10:36And we know that every time we'd make inquiries
0:10:36 > 0:10:38with his family and friends,
0:10:38 > 0:10:41they were literally gloating that you'll never get hold of him,
0:10:41 > 0:10:42he's left the country.
0:10:42 > 0:10:46And they were sort of proud of the fact that he had avoided justice.
0:10:51 > 0:10:54Every November, 26 police forces across the UK
0:10:54 > 0:10:57take part in a week-long operation,
0:10:57 > 0:11:01aimed at tackling foreign offenders on Britain's roads.
0:11:01 > 0:11:03Yeah, that's copied...
0:11:03 > 0:11:07Stopping and searching vehicles registered abroad
0:11:07 > 0:11:10and checking that foreign workers have the appropriate permits
0:11:10 > 0:11:12is part of the work.
0:11:12 > 0:11:14Madam, what nationality are you?
0:11:14 > 0:11:18But the operation also focuses on tracking down men and women
0:11:18 > 0:11:21on the run after committing crimes abroad.
0:11:21 > 0:11:26This week, PCs Danny Evans and Karl Lacey are in Worcestershire
0:11:26 > 0:11:28and they have a long list of fugitives to find.
0:11:30 > 0:11:33First up is Przemyslaw Wojciechowski.
0:11:33 > 0:11:37The 33-year-old drug dealer has already been sentenced
0:11:37 > 0:11:40to two years in prison back in Poland.
0:11:40 > 0:11:41When was the offence?
0:11:43 > 0:11:45It's been about seven... It's been a while ago.
0:11:45 > 0:11:47How long's he been in the country?
0:11:47 > 0:11:48Quite a while.
0:11:49 > 0:11:51Just looking at a bit of history
0:11:51 > 0:11:54we've got with this gentleman from this warrant,
0:11:54 > 0:11:56that we've received from Poland,
0:11:56 > 0:12:03the drug supply has been over a year or so, in 2006, 2007,
0:12:03 > 0:12:07at least sort of eight to ten separate offences of drug supply
0:12:07 > 0:12:12over that period of time, so obviously, that's why the offence
0:12:12 > 0:12:15is so severe, that he's been sought after.
0:12:15 > 0:12:17The team have an address for the man.
0:12:17 > 0:12:20They're aiming to sneak up on it, so he doesn't see them coming.
0:12:22 > 0:12:24A plainclothes officer leads them to the right flat.
0:12:31 > 0:12:33The drug dealer has a two-year prison sentence
0:12:33 > 0:12:36waiting for him back in Poland.
0:12:36 > 0:12:39PC Matt Britton is first to approach the door.
0:12:48 > 0:12:50- Hello.- Hello.- It's the police.
0:12:50 > 0:12:52Can we just come and have a quick chat with you?
0:12:52 > 0:12:54- It's nothing to worry about. - Yeah.- Are you here alone today?
0:12:54 > 0:12:57- No, with my partner. - What's your partner's name?
0:12:57 > 0:13:01- Przemy.- Przemy, right, is his...?
0:13:01 > 0:13:03What's his last name?
0:13:03 > 0:13:05Wojciechowski.
0:13:05 > 0:13:07Is he here now, is he?
0:13:07 > 0:13:10He's at the shop at the moment but he's coming here.
0:13:10 > 0:13:13- He's coming back?- Yeah. - Ah, right. OK.
0:13:13 > 0:13:18Wojciechowski does live here but has popped out to the local supermarket.
0:13:18 > 0:13:21You know, if this guy wanted to get away from us...
0:13:23 > 0:13:25..quite easily, a phone call could have gone in
0:13:25 > 0:13:27when Matt and Jim were at the premises, by his partner,
0:13:27 > 0:13:30to say, "Don't come back, the police are here."
0:13:30 > 0:13:33While Matt waits with Wojciechowski's partner,
0:13:33 > 0:13:37Sgt Dean Carswell and the plainclothes police officer set off
0:13:37 > 0:13:41towards the supermarket in an attempt to intercept him.
0:13:41 > 0:13:46But a chance encounter saves them a journey.
0:13:46 > 0:13:48Sir, just have a quick word.
0:13:48 > 0:13:52- Is that you?- No.- Who are you?
0:13:52 > 0:13:56- Damian.- Damian.- Have you got any ID with you, Damian?- Yeah.
0:13:56 > 0:13:59- It's not, that's you, that is. - That's me, yeah.
0:13:59 > 0:14:01Just stand there a second for me.
0:14:04 > 0:14:07Have you got anything in your pockets that you shouldn't have?
0:14:07 > 0:14:09- No, no.- Any knives, any weapons? - No.- Anything else?
0:14:09 > 0:14:12- Put your hands to the side. - Let me take your bread off you.
0:14:12 > 0:14:13- Yeah.- I'm not going to eat it.
0:14:13 > 0:14:15'We were all called round.'
0:14:15 > 0:14:18I came round, identified the male from the warrant,
0:14:18 > 0:14:20asked him his name, and again,
0:14:20 > 0:14:22he was arrested immediately for the warrant.
0:14:22 > 0:14:24- He's been searched. - OK, you're under arrest
0:14:24 > 0:14:26under the Extradition Act 2003.
0:14:26 > 0:14:28You do not have to say anything
0:14:28 > 0:14:30but anything you do say may be given in evidence.
0:14:31 > 0:14:34- Can you confirm your name for me? - Yeah, that's the name.
0:14:34 > 0:14:37- Your name, can you tell me, please?- Wojciechowski.
0:14:37 > 0:14:40- My missus knows about it, yes? - Yeah.- OK. So, thank you.
0:14:40 > 0:14:43OK, you've got everything you need, sir?
0:14:45 > 0:14:47Can I say goodbye to my girlfriend?
0:14:47 > 0:14:49That's it? Please?
0:14:50 > 0:14:53- Just you wait here. We'll bring her down, OK?- Yeah.
0:14:55 > 0:14:57It wasn't until he saw his daughter,
0:14:57 > 0:15:00I think it really hit home, didn't it? He got emotional, he got upset.
0:15:03 > 0:15:05His time on the run over,
0:15:05 > 0:15:08Wojciechowski realises that his failure to face up
0:15:08 > 0:15:13to his criminal past now means his family will be left on their own.
0:15:15 > 0:15:18It's only right when somebody's getting arrested and possibly
0:15:18 > 0:15:20sent back to their country to serve a long sentence
0:15:20 > 0:15:23that they're allowed to say goodbye to their loved ones.
0:15:24 > 0:15:27- The thing is...- Yeah.- ..it's going to get dealt with now, isn't it?
0:15:27 > 0:15:30- You don't have to hide any more. - Yeah, exactly.- OK.
0:15:34 > 0:15:38Wojciechowski's past as a dealer in amphetamines back in Poland
0:15:38 > 0:15:40has finally caught up with him.
0:15:42 > 0:15:45He's put himself in that situation.
0:15:45 > 0:15:46You know, this has happened for a while
0:15:46 > 0:15:49and he's known that he could have got it sorted out a long time ago.
0:15:49 > 0:15:52The only blessing is maybe that he can get it dealt with now
0:15:52 > 0:15:55and before his daughter is old enough to find out what's going on.
0:15:55 > 0:15:58Maybe won't remember any of this at all.
0:16:05 > 0:16:11One of the UK's most wanted fugitives was notorious cocaine smuggler Robert Knight.
0:16:12 > 0:16:16He fled the UK in April 2008,
0:16:16 > 0:16:20swapping his life as the mastermind behind a gang of drug smugglers
0:16:20 > 0:16:22for a life on the run.
0:16:23 > 0:16:26The National Crime Agency joined in the search.
0:16:26 > 0:16:27With Rob Knight, we thought
0:16:27 > 0:16:30he had quite a lot of links out in Spain.
0:16:30 > 0:16:34So, we initially started looking in that area.
0:16:34 > 0:16:36He was on the run for a number of years in the end,
0:16:36 > 0:16:38which can often be the case.
0:16:38 > 0:16:40Even though you secure a European Arrest Warrant,
0:16:40 > 0:16:42it doesn't mean we arrest people instantly.
0:16:42 > 0:16:44But it doesn't mean we stop looking either.
0:16:44 > 0:16:49So, for Rob Knight, he had links to Dubai, to Thailand, to South Africa,
0:16:49 > 0:16:51and obviously, every one of those links
0:16:51 > 0:16:53has to be looked into and investigated.
0:16:53 > 0:16:54But even after all that,
0:16:54 > 0:16:58even when we looked with these other countries, considered other options,
0:16:58 > 0:17:00it all came back to pointing back towards Spain.
0:17:02 > 0:17:07A fresh appeal at home and abroad in 2013 threw up new leads.
0:17:10 > 0:17:14We had quite good intelligence as to around a specific location
0:17:14 > 0:17:16where you started to get a feeling and suggestions
0:17:16 > 0:17:18that he was around the Benidorm area,
0:17:18 > 0:17:20that he was perhaps frequenting bars around there
0:17:20 > 0:17:22and that his face was known
0:17:22 > 0:17:24and we were getting intelligence that he was there.
0:17:24 > 0:17:27So, we could obviously start to focus in on that.
0:17:27 > 0:17:30So, the process would be once we had an idea of where he was,
0:17:30 > 0:17:32we would feed that in to the Spanish
0:17:32 > 0:17:35and then they would look to progress the intelligence.
0:17:35 > 0:17:38With the European Arrest Warrant now in place,
0:17:38 > 0:17:43the Spanish national police's fugitive unit could join the search.
0:17:43 > 0:17:46They followed up on information linking Knight to Benidorm,
0:17:46 > 0:17:50a popular haunt for Brits on the run.
0:17:50 > 0:17:52They come to Benidorm for bars, they play cards here,
0:17:52 > 0:17:56just watch football on television, and things like that.
0:17:56 > 0:17:59We thought Robert Knight was living here in Benidorm,
0:17:59 > 0:18:01so we spent here about two weeks.
0:18:01 > 0:18:05We found out that he had been identified by the local police here,
0:18:05 > 0:18:07driving a motorcycle.
0:18:07 > 0:18:09At that time, he was using a false identity.
0:18:11 > 0:18:13Armed with the knowledge that Robert Knight
0:18:13 > 0:18:15was using someone else's name,
0:18:15 > 0:18:18Olga and her UK colleagues were hopeful of an arrest.
0:18:20 > 0:18:22He was on a false passport,
0:18:22 > 0:18:25so he may have been able to move around European countries
0:18:25 > 0:18:26on that passport.
0:18:26 > 0:18:29But the main intelligence that we were getting
0:18:29 > 0:18:30was that he was settled in Spain,
0:18:30 > 0:18:34that he visited certain bars,
0:18:34 > 0:18:36he was happy there because of the expat community
0:18:36 > 0:18:39and he fitted in pretty nicely there.
0:18:39 > 0:18:42But despite information that Knight had been in Benidorm,
0:18:42 > 0:18:45by the time Olga arrived there to arrest him,
0:18:45 > 0:18:47he seemed to have disappeared.
0:18:47 > 0:18:51Two guys told us, "OK, we recognise him, he was here,
0:18:51 > 0:18:55"but he left this place, like, two months ago."
0:18:55 > 0:18:57Or something like that.
0:18:57 > 0:19:00Picking up the trail again proved difficult.
0:19:01 > 0:19:04It took a few months to actually nail down exactly
0:19:04 > 0:19:06where we thought he was in Alicante.
0:19:06 > 0:19:08But thanks to some excellent work from the Spanish,
0:19:08 > 0:19:12they did eventually secure one bar where we became pretty sure
0:19:12 > 0:19:14that he frequented there quite regularly.
0:19:16 > 0:19:18Olga then received a useful lead
0:19:18 > 0:19:21that would help her team spot Knight.
0:19:22 > 0:19:24They told us he was riding a bicycle.
0:19:24 > 0:19:28It was like a black bicycle with white wheels.
0:19:28 > 0:19:30So, it was kind of a weird bicycle.
0:19:30 > 0:19:32It's not the normal bicycle.
0:19:33 > 0:19:36And back at the National Crime Agency,
0:19:36 > 0:19:39officers also received some new information.
0:19:39 > 0:19:42An intelligence source in Spain told them that Knight
0:19:42 > 0:19:45was now a keen player on the Costa's poker circuit.
0:19:45 > 0:19:48The fact that he was playing poker was great.
0:19:48 > 0:19:50It gave us an idea that he was on a certain circuit,
0:19:50 > 0:19:53that he would be cropping up in potentially certain bars.
0:19:53 > 0:19:56But it wasn't just that. It was that once we knew what league
0:19:56 > 0:19:58he was playing in, what games he was playing in,
0:19:58 > 0:20:00we could work out where he was going to be and at what time.
0:20:01 > 0:20:03It was a big breakthrough.
0:20:03 > 0:20:06Now police knew about Knight's gaming habits,
0:20:06 > 0:20:08it seemed the chips were finally down
0:20:08 > 0:20:11for one of the UK's most wanted fugitives.
0:20:17 > 0:20:19In south-west London,
0:20:19 > 0:20:23DS Pete Rance and DC Jamie Darby have arrested a man
0:20:23 > 0:20:26wanted by Belgian police.
0:20:26 > 0:20:29- Jump on there. You've got some ID, have you?- Yes, yes.
0:20:32 > 0:20:35He fled the country part way through a prison sentence
0:20:35 > 0:20:37- for assaulting his wife.- Understood.
0:20:37 > 0:20:40- You're not in trouble in the UK. - No, sir.
0:20:40 > 0:20:43But there's a warrant been issued in Belgium and Belgium have asked us
0:20:43 > 0:20:46to execute the warrant, it's a European Arrest Warrant.
0:20:46 > 0:20:49- Yeah, but...- OK, so, listen, so you have to go to court in London.
0:20:49 > 0:20:53If Pete doesn't get his man in front of a judge as soon as possible,
0:20:53 > 0:20:55the case could be thrown out.
0:20:56 > 0:20:59They need to take him to Westminster Magistrates' Court
0:20:59 > 0:21:00first thing in the morning
0:21:00 > 0:21:03because it's the only court in England and Wales
0:21:03 > 0:21:05that deals with extradition requests.
0:21:07 > 0:21:10But first, he must be processed at a police station.
0:21:10 > 0:21:12Pete takes him to Charing Cross.
0:21:15 > 0:21:18Charing Cross is a central London police station.
0:21:18 > 0:21:22It works for us because it's very close to the court
0:21:22 > 0:21:28where the people that are going to be taken in extradition proceedings.
0:21:28 > 0:21:30The police want to take your fingerprints,
0:21:30 > 0:21:32photograph and a DNA sample.
0:21:32 > 0:21:34OK, once the samples are taken,
0:21:34 > 0:21:36they can be used for crime investigation purposes
0:21:36 > 0:21:38and to check your identity.
0:21:38 > 0:21:41Take your glasses off for me, please? Cheers.
0:21:41 > 0:21:43Look straight at the camera. Yeah, yeah.
0:21:44 > 0:21:47Jamie and his colleague DC Dave Salmon
0:21:47 > 0:21:49check the arrested man into custody.
0:21:51 > 0:21:52Thank you very much.
0:21:53 > 0:21:56Gathering DNA and adding it to the database
0:21:56 > 0:21:59is an important part of the process.
0:21:59 > 0:22:02We do this with every extradition prisoner.
0:22:02 > 0:22:04It'll be on file
0:22:04 > 0:22:07and it can be compared against the database as well,
0:22:07 > 0:22:11just in case they've been committing other crimes here.
0:22:13 > 0:22:17- Just relax when I roll them, OK? Just relax.- All right.
0:22:17 > 0:22:19Cooperation between European police forces
0:22:19 > 0:22:23and the sharing of this kind of information across borders
0:22:23 > 0:22:26is key to tracking down men and women on the run.
0:22:26 > 0:22:30My job is to ascertain that he was the person that was wanted.
0:22:32 > 0:22:36But as a priority, to make sure that that woman and the children
0:22:36 > 0:22:39were safe and free from any potential harm from him now.
0:22:39 > 0:22:41And I was happy that we'd done that,
0:22:41 > 0:22:45that there was no risk to the kids or to her.
0:22:45 > 0:22:48And then it was about arranging for him to go before the court,
0:22:48 > 0:22:51so that the extradition proceedings could commence.
0:22:51 > 0:22:56The man convicted back in 2009 of domestic violence offences
0:22:56 > 0:23:00in Belgium will spend the night in the cells.
0:23:00 > 0:23:02He'll appear before a judge in the morning.
0:23:08 > 0:23:13In 2014, Olga Lizana, head of the Spanish police's fugitive unit,
0:23:13 > 0:23:16was on the hunt for British criminal Robert Knight.
0:23:17 > 0:23:19Six years earlier,
0:23:19 > 0:23:22he avoided arrest in Birmingham when police closed the net
0:23:22 > 0:23:24on his drug-smuggling gang.
0:23:25 > 0:23:27The more we investigated,
0:23:27 > 0:23:30the more we realised that Rob Knight was the one with the contacts,
0:23:30 > 0:23:33he was the one to facilitate the drugs,
0:23:33 > 0:23:35and he was the one that sort of glued the whole operation together.
0:23:37 > 0:23:40After new appeals and months of painstaking research,
0:23:40 > 0:23:43police were close to capturing the fugitive.
0:23:44 > 0:23:46There will always be one piece of intelligence
0:23:46 > 0:23:48that sort of helps take us over the line.
0:23:48 > 0:23:49For us in the case of Robert Knight,
0:23:49 > 0:23:51it was the fact that he played poker so much
0:23:51 > 0:23:53and that he was so heavily involved in it.
0:23:54 > 0:23:58We got some information about the bar, Saffy's Bar in Calpe.
0:23:59 > 0:24:02They told us "British people play poker here,"
0:24:02 > 0:24:04I think it was every Thursday or something like that.
0:24:04 > 0:24:07So, we move over there.
0:24:07 > 0:24:08Over the past few months,
0:24:08 > 0:24:11Olga had discovered that Robert Knight
0:24:11 > 0:24:14was a keen poker player who rode a distinctive bicycle.
0:24:14 > 0:24:17We didn't see him getting into the bar.
0:24:17 > 0:24:20The first thing we saw was a bicycle outside.
0:24:21 > 0:24:24We decided to wait a little bit to see what was going on.
0:24:24 > 0:24:27We didn't see any people just getting in or out.
0:24:27 > 0:24:30So, we decided to go there and get a drink.
0:24:30 > 0:24:33And sure enough, inside the bar,
0:24:33 > 0:24:36a poker school was just settling in for the evening.
0:24:36 > 0:24:38We have a regular game,
0:24:38 > 0:24:40a friendly game of poker on a Thursday,
0:24:40 > 0:24:43and we were just getting ready for that, really,
0:24:43 > 0:24:45getting all the chips ready and running around for that.
0:24:45 > 0:24:47There was a few people in for the bar.
0:24:47 > 0:24:48Just normal, really.
0:24:48 > 0:24:50We just sat tight.
0:24:50 > 0:24:53We were trying to check if Robert Knight was there or not.
0:24:53 > 0:24:56At the beginning, we were not sure,
0:24:56 > 0:25:01so we were just going in and out to check if it was him or not.
0:25:01 > 0:25:03We were pretty sure, so we decided
0:25:03 > 0:25:06to get into the bar and ask everybody for their documents.
0:25:08 > 0:25:10But even when Olga approached Knight,
0:25:10 > 0:25:13he was still trying to call her bluff.
0:25:14 > 0:25:16When I asked him for the papers,
0:25:16 > 0:25:20he showed me a kind of copy of his passport, but it was not a real one.
0:25:20 > 0:25:23I asked him about his name.
0:25:23 > 0:25:26And he said the name that was on the passport.
0:25:26 > 0:25:29He was not nervous or anything.
0:25:29 > 0:25:32Robert Knight seemed confident his change of appearance
0:25:32 > 0:25:35and fake passport would do the trick,
0:25:35 > 0:25:38even when the odds were stacked against him.
0:25:38 > 0:25:42He thought we were just checking the names or anything,
0:25:42 > 0:25:44so he moved from the table.
0:25:44 > 0:25:47He was asking for another beer, till we just told him,
0:25:47 > 0:25:50"OK, we know you are Robert Knight and you are under arrest."
0:25:50 > 0:25:54But still, it seemed nothing would rattle the one-time drug smuggler.
0:25:54 > 0:25:56He said, "Before you take me, I need to pay me bill."
0:25:56 > 0:25:58So, I was happy, because I'm a Yorkshireman.
0:25:58 > 0:26:01He had a bike outside, chained up, he says, "You can keep the bike."
0:26:01 > 0:26:03I says, "You what?" He says, "You can keep the bike."
0:26:03 > 0:26:07I says, "Why?" He says, "I don't think I'll be back."
0:26:07 > 0:26:11After six years on the run, Knight was finally captured.
0:26:11 > 0:26:14But bizarrely, he didn't seem at all concerned
0:26:14 > 0:26:17that his life as a fugitive had come to an end.
0:26:18 > 0:26:20There is between
0:26:20 > 0:26:2440 and 50 kilometres between Calpe and Alicante,
0:26:24 > 0:26:27we were taking him to the police station in Alicante.
0:26:27 > 0:26:29And he was sleeping in the car.
0:26:29 > 0:26:32To me, it seemed that he was not worried about
0:26:32 > 0:26:34the stuff that was going on.
0:26:34 > 0:26:37He kept saying at the police station that we were wrong,
0:26:37 > 0:26:39"I am another person."
0:26:39 > 0:26:42Robert Knight's bluffing bravado didn't last.
0:26:42 > 0:26:47UK officers were summoned to Alicante to confirm his identity.
0:26:47 > 0:26:51We scrambled pretty quickly to make sure because they were uncertain.
0:26:51 > 0:26:54Obviously, he had forged documents on him and his appearance
0:26:54 > 0:26:56had changed a great deal.
0:26:56 > 0:26:59It felt really good, actually, because when we saw him,
0:26:59 > 0:27:02we arrested him and took him on the airport, he was still denying.
0:27:02 > 0:27:05Firstly, he was still talking to us that he wasn't Rob Knight
0:27:05 > 0:27:08and secondly, he was saying, well, he wasn't on the run.
0:27:08 > 0:27:11He made great pains to say, "Nobody told me I was wanted.
0:27:11 > 0:27:13"I'd been living out there freely."
0:27:13 > 0:27:16In October 2014,
0:27:16 > 0:27:21officers escorted the drug dealer back to the UK to stand trial.
0:27:21 > 0:27:23He didn't realise how much we actually knew about him.
0:27:23 > 0:27:27He didn't realise that we knew how he was writing letters home
0:27:27 > 0:27:29and everything else he was doing.
0:27:29 > 0:27:35For the NCA, it was a great end to six long years of intelligence work.
0:27:35 > 0:27:37The satisfaction of making that phone call
0:27:37 > 0:27:41to the officer in the force who's also lived the case with you,
0:27:41 > 0:27:44being able to make that phone call and say, "We've got them,
0:27:44 > 0:27:46"we've got them arrested, they're in custody,
0:27:46 > 0:27:48"they've got the cuffs on them,"
0:27:48 > 0:27:49that is the best feeling in the job.
0:27:52 > 0:27:55Six years to the day he fled the UK,
0:27:55 > 0:28:00in April 2015, Robert Knight was sentenced to 11 years in prison
0:28:00 > 0:28:04at Birmingham Crown Court for drug smuggling.
0:28:04 > 0:28:07Six months after Met officers arrested the man
0:28:07 > 0:28:11with an outstanding prison sentence to serve for domestic violence,
0:28:11 > 0:28:15the Belgian authorities decided to withdraw the European Arrest Warrant
0:28:15 > 0:28:17they'd issued for him.
0:28:19 > 0:28:22And Przemyslaw Wojciechowski
0:28:22 > 0:28:26was successfully deported back to Poland in June 2016
0:28:26 > 0:28:29to serve the rest of his sentence for supplying drugs.