British Encrochat suspects arrested in Colombia

Armed police raided a building in Medellin, Colombia's second largest city

Two British men wanted by police over drug and gun trafficking allegations have been arrested in Colombia.

Liam O'Brien, from Liverpool, and Robert Taylor, from Newcastle upon Tyne, were found by officers from the Policia Nacional De Colombia at a property in the South American country's second city Medellin on Wednesday.

The cases against both men arise from Operation Venetic, the UK response to the hacking in 2020 of the Encrochat encrypted phone network that was used heavily by organised crime groups across the world.

Taylor, 54, had been sentenced in his absence in February 2024 to seven-and-a-half years in prison while 41-year-old O'Brien had been charged with multiple offences.

The National Crime Agency (NCA) said UK authorities had worked with Colombian police to trace the men.

In a video posted on social media by the director of Colombia's national police, Brig Gen William Oswaldo Rincón Zambrano, armed officers can be seen climbing a ladder to enter a townhouse via a balcony.

Photographs of the two detained men - one of them holding a puppy - have been released. Their faces were digitally blurred.

The two men will be detained during the extradition proceedings

Taylor, of Exeter Road in the Wallsend area of Newcastle, was wanted by Northumbria Police after failing to attend his trial for drug supply and money laundering offences.

The NCA was also seeking O'Brien, of Leyfield Road in the West Derby area of Liverpool.

He will face charges of conspiracy to supply cocaine, heroin, MDMA and cannabis as well as conspiracy to possess firearms with intent to endanger life and conspiracy to transfer a prohibited weapon.

O'Brien is also accused of money laundering and perverting the course of justice.

The NCA said proceedings would soon begin to extradite both men back to the United Kingdom.

'Unwavering determination'

Rick Jones, NCA deputy director of international, said the agency was "immensely grateful" to Colombia's national police.

"These arrests continue to show the NCA's global reach, its close partnerships with both UK and international police forces, and our unwavering determination to ensure UK fugitives are returned to face justice," he said.

"Other fugitives should do the right thing and hand themselves in because we will do everything possible with partners at home and abroad to find them."

Det Ch Insp Marc Michael of Northumbria Police added: "Taylor's arrest is another example of how we work with partners not just in the UK but around the world to make sure that individuals face justice."