A CONVICTED drug smuggler from North Yorkshire who escaped prison to go on the run in Spain has been jailed. 

Daniel Dobbs, 31, of Malton, who is known as "Dobbo" to his friends, escaped from his prison cell in South Yorkshire in November 2018, while he was serving a 13 and a half year sentence for trafficking heroin and amphetamines. 

Last year, the National Crime Agency (NCA) identified him as living in Spain under a false name.

On February 11, after co-operation with Spanish law enforcement partners, Dobbs was arrested in a Guardia Civil investigation into an underground tobacco factory in Malaga, southern Spain.

The counterfeit cigarettes were made in unsanitary conditions and of low-quality components.

Officers seized more than 3 million counterfeit cigarettes, 20kg of hashish, 144kg of marijuana, three weapons, eight GPS tracking devices and one jamming device.

Dobbs was returned to the UK in March 2020 and on July 21, was sentenced to 24 months in prison for escape from lawful custody, and 12 months concurrently for improper use of an identity document at Lewes Crown Court.

These will run consecutively with the remainder of his 13 and a half year sentence, giving him a total of 16 and a half years.

He was originally sentenced in January 2014, following a National Crime Agency investigation.

Alison Abbott, of the NCA’s offender lifetime management unit, said: “It is apparent that Dobbs is a harmful and persistent offender who thought he could escape the UK and avoid detection. But together with international partners, we tracked him down, and now he’s back behind bars where he belongs.

“The NCA pursues fugitives relentlessly. No matter where they are, nor how long it takes, we will catch up with those who flee UK justice.”