This was the moment a gun suspect from Warrington was arrested in Spain as part of a large-scale probe into firearms supply.
Police swooped on Robert Brazedale in Estepona yesterday in connection with a huge haul of guns and ammunition discovered in April and June this year.
Also detained in a simultaneous hit on Tuesday were two men from Manchester, and one from Chester.
The blitz is linked to the global collapse of the shadowy Encrochat communication network, busted by police over the summer.
That was a Europe-wide investigation into the dismantling of a global encrypted device service, used almost exclusively by criminals, codenamed Operation Venetic.
Yesterday, Brazendale, who has links to Thelwall in Warrington, was taken into custody by the National Crime Agency.
The 33-year-old was pictured in handcuffs, wearing a white Under Armour T-shirt on the Costa Del Sol.
Brazendale was subject to a European Arrest Warrant.
He was remanded in custody facing extradition proceedings.
Also arrested yesterday, as part of the same operation, were Bilal Khan, 32, of Mersey Road, Didsbury, Manchester; Umair Zaheer, 33, of Somerset Road, Eccles, Manchester; and Hitesh Patel, 26, of Garden Lane, Chester, Cheshire.
The four men were later charged with conspiracy to possess firearms and ammunition with intent to endanger life or to enable another person to endanger life.
These moves follow officers seizing an AK47 assault rifle hidden in a commercial building in Warrington in April.
That month, officers also seized an Uzi and Skorpion sub machine guns, 300 rounds of ammo, £180,000 cash and a kilogram of cocaine from a location in London.
In June, officers seized a second AK47 from an address in Manchester.
Khan, Zaheer and Patel will appear at Manchester Magistrates’ Court today.
Neil Gardner, NCA operations manager, said: “The arrests by the NCA and Spanish National Police are the latest in a long line made since Operation Venetic was announced in July this year.
“As part of this investigation the NCA and our policing partners have removed some of the most deadly firearms that exist.
“We will continue to target offenders who bring firearms into our communities.”
