Tom Dowdall, NCA international deputy director, said: “Sarah Panitzke has been on the run for almost nine years. Given the length of time, she might have thought we had stopped searching, but she remained on our radar.
“Joint working between UK law enforcement and our partners in Spain led to her being apprehended, and we will now seek her extradition back to the UK to serve her prison sentence.
“This should serve as a warning to others on our most wanted list – we will not rest until you are captured, no matter how long it takes.”
Panitzke had been the subject of a number of most wanted appeals to find fugitives since she vanished.
The Spanish Guardia Civil said she was tracked down to a town near Barcelona in 2015. However, she became aware of the police operation to arrest her, so disguised herself and managed to flee.
In February this year, she was tracked down to the small town of Santa Barbara in Tarragona, which has only around 4,000 inhabitants, and put under surveillance until her arrest.
