Guinea-Bissau PM's adviser arrested in Spain on drug charges, police say
BARCELONA, May 2 (Reuters) - Spanish police have arrested a special adviser to the prime minister of Guinea-Bissau, on the island of Tenerife in an investigation into suspected corruption and drug trafficking involving police officers, authorities said on Friday.
Following Wednesday's arrest, a court in Tenerife ordered that Lebanon-born Mohamed Jamil Derbah, who is a Tenerife resident, be remanded in jail without bail as the suspected leader of a crime ring, while others were released.
"Nine people were arrested on Wednesday in an operation by police internal affairs. Two were retired police officers and one is serving," a Spanish National Police spokesperson said on Friday.
Guinea Bissau's prime minister, Rui Duarte de Barros, appointed Derbah as his special aide and a permanent member of the International Relations and Trade Commission in 2024.
The prime minister's office did not respond to requests for comment.
Derbah could not be reached for comment.
In 2001, Reuters reported of Derbah's arrest by Spanish authorities for alleged involvement in a fraud ring in the Canary Islands which may have had links to the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and the pro-Syrian Shi'ite Amal movement.
There were no reports later of his conviction.
Authorities said then that the ring was involved in timeshare fraud which affected several British and German citizens. The police also said that Derbah began his alleged criminal activities under the guidance of John Palmer, a British multi-millionaire who was sentenced to eight years in prison by a London court in 2001 for timeshare fraud and who was killed in 2015.
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The Herald Scotland
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Scottish Sun
an hour ago
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They said: 'Lead prosecutor Andres Madrea reproduced in his trial request an exchange of messages in the early hours of October 14, where the singer asks the accused for five or five grams and the waiter replies an hour later that he had obtained three grams with the phrase in English: 'I think I got to three.' 'Paiz then sent the musician several photographs related to narcotics, including one of a transparent plastic bag with a white powder, after which they agreed that the waiter would go to the CasaSur Hotel where the accused arrived at 3:24am according to the security camera records. 'This shows that the accused Paiz, at Payne's request, went to the hotel in question, stayed in his room, where he gave cocaine to Payne, until he left at around 8:15 am.' They went on to detail the second "drug deal" later the same day when Liam Payne took a taxi to Paiz's flat to pick up cocaine - and reference another subsequent message exchange about a third "possible deal' which they said ended with the singer writing: 'I have DOLLARS US 100. Party.' Three other men initially charged over Liam's death were told in February the case against them had been dropped. Liam's close friend Rogelio Nores, hotel receptionist Esteban Grassi and hotel head of security Gilda Martin were accused of his manslaughter by a female lower court judge before reversing her decision on appeal. No date has yet been set for the Paiz and Pereyra trial although it is expected to kick off shortly. Paiz, who has previously protested his innocence, spoke again from prison this week to repeat an earlier claim that he had shared drugs with the artist but hadn't committed the serious offence of selling him narcotics. The 25-year-old whined in an interview with Argentinian media outlet Infobae from his jail cell at a Buenos Aires police station: 'I don't know what I'm doing here, I'm a good person. 'I shared drugs with Liam but I didn't sell them.' Describing himself as a drug user who started smoking marijuana as a youngster, he added: 'All I want to do is start studying again and leave jail to work, like I was doing before. 'I regret now giving Liam my Instagram because it all spiralled from there. 'If I hadn't I'd probably be working today, I'd be studying, I'd be doing videos because before meeting Liam I'd participated in the filming of a video-clip for YouTube for a singer and other videos for TV. 'I miss the freedom I had, I miss work, I miss my family, my mum and my sisters.' Pereyra handed himself in on January 6 after making himself a fugitive the previous week following failed police attempts to locate and arrest him so he could be remanded in pre-trial custody on the orders of an investigating judge. He has yet to make any public comment. 7
