Hungarian drug dealer on Europol top wanted list turns himself in

The man turned up at a Debrecen police station, in eastern Hungary, on Wednesday and was taken into custody. A Debrecen court ordered his pre-trial detention the same day.

The press release said Istvan V Sandor and his associates, including the man who turned himself in, Andras Cs, operated sophisticated equipment to cultivate and process cannabis in Bacs-Kiskun County, central-southern Hungary, in 2020 and 2021, as part of 300 million forint (EUR 763,000) operation.

On May 21, 2021 police raided the premises and seized 165kg of marijuana and cocaine, and subsequently 380 million forints-worth of assets were also seized from the members of the ring. Investigators succeeded in identifying all seven of its members. Two of them were quickly captured in Hungary, while European and international arrest warrants were issued against five members on the run.

Europol launched its Game Over media campaign in November 2023, and included data on the Hungarian ring on its website and other media outlets.

Three members, Istvan V Sandor and Roland V from Budapest, and Erik K Tibor from Algyo were captured on July 19, 2023 by the Hungarian and Spanish authorities in Alicante.

A warrant is still out for Tamas Bagameri, a man on Hungary’s top wanted list, and since July 2023 he has taken the place of Istvan V Sandor on Europol’s top wanted list.