Spanish police detain Dutch Hells Angels money launderer

Spanish police said Thursday they had detained a Dutch man suspected of laundering money for a Belgian cocaine trafficking ring headed by a member of the Hells Angels motorcycling gang.

Officers detained the unidentified man in Marbella on Spain’s Mediterranean coast on a European arrest warrant issued by a Belgian judge, a statement said.

He is suspected of laundering the profits of the ring, which smuggled “signficant” quantities of cocaine from South America into Belgium, and financing the network’s smuggling operations, it said.

“This individual, a Dutch national who lived in a luxury villa on the Costa del Sol, pretended to be a salesman of luxury cars, watches and diamonds,” the statement said.

“During a search of his residence, officers found numerous documents related to the activities under investigation and a stolen yacht moored in Puerto Banus in Marbella,” it added.

The ring was headed by the second in command of the Hells Angels in Antwerp, Belgium’s second largest city.

A Belgian judge issued an arrest warrant for the man after 13 suspected members of the network, including three members of the Hells Angels were arrested in Belgium.