Two men from south Wales on National Crime Agency's 'most wanted' list
Two people from south Wales have been named on the National Crime Agency's 'most wanted' list.
A new appeal has been launched to trace and bring to justice 12 of the UK's most wanted fugitives believed to be hiding in Spain.
The offenders, who are all men, are wanted for crimes including murder, large scale drugs trafficking and supplying firearms and ammunition.
Two men from Cardiff are wanted by South Wales Police for Class A drugs offences allegedly organised by using the encrypted comms platform EncroChat.
29-year old Asim Naveed is accused of being the leader of a drug smuggling gang that brought 46kg of cocaine, worth nearly £8 million, into Wales between February and June 2020.
His last known addresses were in the Butetown and Pentwyn areas of Cardiff. Naveed is described as a 6ft 2in muscular Asian man and has a surgical scar along his left wrist.
32-year-old Calvin Parris is accused of buying cocaine from Naveed and selling it in the Welsh capital.
His last known addresses were in Ely, Sully and Barry in Cardiff. He is black and around 5ft 11in and has gold upper teeth.
The National Crime Agency's Most Wanted campaign is run in conjunction with independent charity CrimeStoppers, Spanish law enforcement and UK policing.
It comes on the back of the "extremely successful" Operation Captura fugitives campaign, which resulted in the arrests of 86 offenders.
Spain is one of the most popular countries for British ex-pats and the two nations have a very strong law enforcement partnership.
Steve Rodhouse, NCA's Director General of Operations warned that "Spain is not a safe haven."
He said: "We have a brilliant relationship with the country's various law enforcement agencies and work together daily to protect the public.
"With 86 offenders arrested in our last fugitives campaign, criminals know we will never give up and we're never far behind them.
"Our Spanish partners were crucial to many of those arrests, and in 2021 arrested and returned more than 25 wanted UK fugitives.
"The NCA's International Crime Bureau and International Liaison Officers work on behalf of UK policing to exchange information and intelligence with partners abroad leading to the tracing and arrests of criminals globally.
"Fugitives usually continue offending while on the run and these men will be known in criminal circles wherever they are.
"The last thing the fugitives' associates will want is the combined determination and capabilities of the UK and Spanish law enforcement focusing on them.
"Many of these fugitives will be trying to blend in to the large British communities who have made their homes in Spain, and if you are resident, you may know one of them from your town or village.
"Loyalties change over time and we urge anyone with information about these men to help us find them."
All the men featured on the campaign are believed to have links to mainland Spain and the Canary Islands.