Armed police swooped on Stephen Devalda, 28, while he was checking out of a hotel with friends in Marbella.

Armed police swooped on Stephen Devalda, 28, while he was checking out of a hotel with friends in Marbella.

Devalda failed to attend his Burnley Crown Court trial for the 2005 robbery of a Royal Mail van at the Asda store, in Corporation Street, Colne.

He was accused of holding a gun to a security guard’s head and beating him with a machete while forcing him to hand over £25,000.

Detectives now say the net is closing in on his accomplice, Andrew Moran, also 28, who fled from the dock, at the same trial, after being convicted over the Pendle raid.

Earlier this year detectives also apprehended Devalda’s brother, 24-year-old Sean Devalda, in Amsterdam, who was on the run in relation to an armed attack on a Group 5 cash van in Agecroft, Salford, in February 2007.

Detectives had tracked Stephen Devalda to Thailand, from the Spanish resort, after his brother’s dramatic arrest.

But he later returned, on a false passport, and was detained at a Marbella hotel by armed officers, working with Spanish police, just after 5.45pm, local time, on Monday.

The brothers were targeted as part of a joint operation, codenamed Operation Gulf, conducted by the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) and Greater Manchester Police.

Stephen Devalda is now being held in Spanish custody and is awaiting extradition proceedings back to the UK.

Matt Burton, SOCA spokesman, said: “The excellent co-operation of the Spanish police has led to the capture of Stephen Devalda.

“Now we have Andrew Moran in our sights.

“I am confident the net is closing in on him.”

Det Insp Simon Cheyte, of Lancashire Police, said: “Stephen Devalda has been wanted by Lancashire Constabulary since he failed to appear at Burnley Crown Court in 2007 having been charged with conspiracy to commit robbery.

"We have worked incredibly hard, not only here in Lancashire, but with our colleagues across the globe in order to trace him.”

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