London, May 10 (IANS): One of the UK's most wanted fugitives has been arrested in Dubai after absconding for eight years, the London-based National Crime Agency (NCA) said.

Michael Paul Moogan, who had been wanted for his alleged role in a large-scale international drug trafficking plot, was apprehended on April 21 as a result of joint working between Dubai Police and British law enforcers, the NCA said on Sunday.

The NCA has established that Moogan was using numerous false identities to avoid capture, reports Xinhua news agency.

"Dubai Police believe that after entering the United Arab Emirates (UAE) using a different identity, he tried to avoid Close Circuit Television (CCTV) in an attempt to elude detectives.

"Utilising the latest capabilities, including the Criminal Data Analysis Center, they were able to track him down," the Agency added.

"For operational reasons details can only be revealed now," said an NCA spokesman.

The spokesman added that Moogan had been on the run since a raid on a Rotterdam cafe suspected of being used as a front for meetings between drug traffickers and cartels, and central to a plot to bring hundreds of kilos of cocaine into the UK every week.

The NCA suspected that Moogan and two other British men were involved in plans to import drugs from Latin America to the European Union.