This is the moment Solihull gangster James Mulvey was arrested half-naked at his Lithuania hideout.

The feared gangster, 42, had evaded justice for years despite being linked to drugs smuggling operations.

He continued to evade justice even after returning to the UK for the first time in five years in 2012, apparently because his father was ill.

However with the help of Lithuanian special forces he was finally caught, half-dressed, at gunpoint in a house in Kaunus on March 28, 2017.

James Mulvey arrested in Lithuania

Dramatic pictures show him sitting on a settee with guns trained on him by police.

In another photograph, he is forced to lie on the floor as special forces stand guard.

He was extradited back to the UK and has now been convicted of two charges of conspiracy to import cocaine and two charges of conspiracy to import cannabis between May 2006 and February 2007.

He will be sentenced this afternoon.

The drugs kingpin lived a life of luxury, building a Spanish villa with an infinity pool, driving top-end cars and moving between five-star hotels.

James Mulvey

He used a complex web of companies, including his Birmingham haulage firm, as a front operation for an international cocaine and cannabis empire, in which he was the linchpin of four bosses - before one was shot dead on the Costa Del Sol.

Originally from Earlswood, Solihull, the 42-year-old "untouchable" oversaw the illicit trade from luxury hotels around the world and his hideaway in southern Spain.

Initially, the consignments of cocaine and cannabis were hidden in metal rollers and transported by a string of haulage companies and individuals from Holland to Ireland via Belgium and the West Midlands.

The ring was busted after an eagle-eyed employee at a transport warehouse in Belgium tipped off police. The industrial rollers were discovered to contain 20 blocks (21.86kg) of cocaine, 364 blocks (391.68kg) of cannabis and 10 blocks (10kg) of phenacetin, a cutting agent for the Class A drug.

Belgian investigators teamed up with UK law enforcement to carry out a controlled delivery of one shipment to Naas in Dublin, via Worcestershire, in February 2007.

Five people were convicted for a total of 88 years in November 2009.

Around 14 other shipments had previously slipped through.

Despite Mulvey's associates being arrested and later convicted, he slipped the net.

In 2015 the National Crime Agency's team in Birmingham picked up the case from West Midlands Police, pursuing an investigation across nine countries involving covert surveillance, complex mobile phone analysis and more than 20 million documents.

James Mulvey was put under surveillance

At times, the case was like a old school crime drama.

At one point two of Mulvey's associates were monitored meeting at Sutton Coldfield crematorium following his arrest in Lithuania while another was named 'Blinky'.

Mulvey was also recorded saying: "The life I lead, you never know what can happen...I do what I do, people try to kill me."

In another intercepted conversation he told his then girlfriend: "Listen, no one can control me baby, even me dad and mum will tell ya I'm f**king nuts.

"I made my path a long time ago baby, when I was younger than you, I don't want you to go down that path.

"I want you to go down, like, the same as my children, a good path."

Along with the gangster talk, one of the key intercepts captured Mulvey admitting his part in the earlier conspiracy.

He said: "Remember I used to do bits and bobs for what Barry got nicked off in Inkberrow, remember."

The father-of-five, who is estranged from his wife, was considered a 'ghost' who went to extensive efforts to hide his online, financial and real-world footprints.

Always on the move, he changed 'burner' mobile pre-pay phones on a daily basis and used trusts, advisors and accountants to launder his profits to off-shore accounts.

The operation left him able to spend around £75,000 a week in cash, funding his cocaine habit, Rolex watches, hotels and leased top-end cars such as Land Rovers and Mercedes.

The grandest symbol of his wealth is a 1.5million Euro villa near Marbella, with indoor and outdoor pools, a cinema and a lift between floors.

Mulvey also had interests in bars and nightclubs, said to include the now-closed Geisha bar in the Mailbox. There is no suggestion anyone at the Geisha bar knew about his criminal dealings.