Spanish police arrest Britain’s most wanted woman

By Alyssa McMurtry

OVIEDO, Spain (AA) - Spanish police on Tuesday said they have arrested Britain’s most wanted woman in Catalonia.

British media have identified the 47-year-old Brit as Sarah Panitzke, who has been on the run from authorities for nearly a decade.

The woman is suspected of laundering more than £1 billion ($1.34) obtained by a criminal organization that would purchase cellphones abroad without paying taxes and reselling them in the UK.

The case went to British court in 2013, but she had fled the country. In failing to show up to the trial, she was condemned to eight years behind bars.

Spanish police said they were close to catching her in 2015, but she managed to slip away from their grasp.

On Sunday, however, police nabbed her while she was walking her dogs in a town in the Tarragona province of Catalonia. She remains in a Spanish prison and is awaiting extradition.