A former Israeli soldier wanted by Colombia for sex trafficking, involving minors, has been arrested in Portugal.
PJ police working with Spanish Guardia Civil arrested Assi Moosh, 46, in Oeiras, on the outskirts of Lisbon on Wednesday.
Said a statement put out yesterday, he was found in possession of counterfeit Israeli identity documents.
The statement added that Moosh is suspected of having operated a “bunker-like” hotel in the touristically-popular Colombian fishing village of Taganga where young women and underage girls were sexually exploited.
Colombian authorities deported Moosh – dubbed “the Devil of Taganga” – in 2017, citing a threat threat to public order, writes Israel’s presstv website.
But they recently issued an international arrest warrant for him via Interpol for drug trafficking, money laundering and trafficking in human beings for the purpose of sexual exploitation.
Spanish police “suspect” that Moosh hid for a while on the Spanish holiday island of Ibiza, and then in Barcelona before travelling to Portugal.
Calling this week’s arrest, the capture of “the baron of sex tourism”, SIC television news said Moosh is suspected of leading “Clan Benjamin” – “a criminal organisation that dedicated itself to the sexual tourism of children and adults”.
SIC adds that suspicions surrounding Moosh include crimes of homicide and money-laundering, aside from drug trafficking, sexual exploitation of minors and criminal association.
Moosh will now remain in preventive custody in Lisbon, pending extradition back to Colombia.
