Convicted of drug trafficking
Spanish ex-footballer arrested after nine years on the run
12/20/2024 – 7:27 a.mReading time: 2 minutes
He was on the run for almost ten years: Now the Spanish ex-footballer Jesús Emilio Díez de Mier was arrested after all – by chance.
After almost a decade on the run, former professional footballer Jesús Emilio Díez de Mier, known as Txutxi, has been arrested in southern Spain. As the Spanish police announced, the arrest took place last Sunday in El Puerto de Santa María (Cádiz). The 51-year-old had been evading justice for nine years.
Txutxi, a former central defender at Athletic Bilbao, was arrested in Madrid in 2009 for drug trafficking. Together with accomplices, he is said to have smuggled almost a ton of cocaine from Argentina to the ports of Algeciras and Valencia. The black market value of the seized drugs was estimated at over 32 million euros.
In 2014, Txutxi was sentenced to nine years in prison, with the sentence scheduled to be completed in 2015. But before he could go to prison, he went into hiding and remained untraceable for years – until a routine check last Sunday.
During the check, Txutxi initially gave false information about his identity. The officers became suspicious and took him to police headquarters to be checked. There it became clear who it actually was. The ex-professional was handed over to the judiciary and is now to begin his prison sentence.
Txutxi began his football career in Athletic Bilbao’s youth ranks. At the age of 17 he joined the youth academy and later played in the second team. In 1992 he made his debut in the Primera División. In the 1995/96 season he made ten appearances for Bilbao before moving to the Segunda División. There he played a total of 304 games for clubs such as UE Lleida and CD Badajoz. He ended his career in 2005 at the age of 32.