Logging onto your favourite news website, or switching on the TV and flicking through to Sky News on Friday (21^st October 2016), you may have seen that the 77^th fugitive arrest as part of the Operation Captura campaign was carried out. (Click to see the video here.)

Matthew Sammon, accused of being in possession of indecent images of children, was arrested just hours after Crimestoppers, the National Crime Agency (NCA) and the Spanish Police launched the tenth appeal of the campaign since its launch in 2006.

Tenth appeal, tenth year, 10 new faces.

Returning to Malaga 10 years later

Operation Captura, which was launched alongside the picturesque beach on the Costa del Sol, has seen many a success in terms of arrests made, with 76 wanted individuals located before Sammon was led away in handcuffs for offences including murder, crimes of a sexual nature, violence, and drug related offences.

The first launch took place 10 years ago (also in Malaga) with 10 individuals published to the Spanish and expat communities out in Spain, as well as members of the public in the UK. Five of those were arrested within the first year – that trend has continued ever since, with a number of subjects arrested soon after their faces were released to the public.

Big campaign, rapid results

Sammon is not the only wanted individual to be arrested inside 24 hours. Back in 2013, 78-year-old Michael McCartney, convicted for sexual offences against children, was arrested in Alicante just hours after the campaign launch had taken place. Dominic Stephen Powell, accused of sexual offences, was also arrested inside 24 hours after the fifth anniversary launch of the campaign in October 2011.

Individuals have handed themselves in as a result of the campaign

While many have been arrested due to the information received by Crimestoppers, the NCA and the Spanish Police, the pressure that the campaign can put on those hiding in the Spanish Costas can be equally effective.

The son of East End gangster Frankie Fraser, Antony, handed himself into authorities six months after he featured on the campaign list in 2011, accused of drug offences.

Similarly Antony Dennis, who featured as part of the campaign last year, is suspected of flying back to England after seeing himself on a large digital ad-van that toured the Spanish Costas, displaying his face and nine others. He was subsequently arrested in Hertfordshire.

Help us to bring criminals to justice

Of the 10 individuals featured as part of last year’s campaign, nine of them have been arrested, with 11 located in total in 2015.

Now, with 19 of the 96 remaining at large following Sammon’s arrest on Friday, we are once again asking for your help. This campaign produces results; your information can be key in helping us and our partners catch up to wanted individuals, both at home and in expat communities abroad.

You’ve seen first-hand some of the arrests made, Sammon’s is just one – convicted drug trafficker Mark Lilley is another. Visit our Most Wanted gallery, look at the faces, and let’s see if we can increase the number of arrests above 80, and then 90.

Those in Spain can contact us on 900 555 111, and if you’re in the UK, 0800 555 111.