A fugitive gang leader dubbed the most beautiful gangster in Poland has been arrested in Slovakia.

Magdalena Kralka was hiding in the boot of a car that had entered Slovakia from Hungary when she was detained by police on the basis of an arrest warrant issued by Poland, where she is wanted on suspicion of leading an organised criminal group.

The organisation, which she is thought to have taken control of in 2017, is suspected of importing more than 120 kilograms of cocaine and 5.5 tonnes of marijuana for sale in Poland. The gang, which was based in Krakow, operated as a wholesale supplier for drug dealers throughout the country. They also smuggled marijuana in large quantities to Norway and produced their own amphetamines.

The organisation had ties to a football hooligan group based in Krakow, who were used to distribute drugs and settle scores with rivals. At one point, the gang has monopolized the drug market in Krakow. Every month, narcotics worth 1.5 million euros were imported to southern Poland from Holland and Spain, .

Kralka was smuggled out of the country in 2018 when police launched a crackdown on the gang that resulted in one of its former leaders being shot dead by anti-terrorism agents and the other being arrested for the kidnapping and torturing a rival for ransom.

Polish authorities alerted their Hungarian colleagues at the end of February that they suspected that Kralka was about to arrive in Hungary. Despite initially managing to evade arrest in Hungary, leading to a 20-hour international operation as she fled over the border to Slovakia and back into Hungary again, she was finally detained in the afternoon of February 28.

Kralka will be returned to Poland where she faces multiple charges on top of drug trafficking including obstructing justice and making false statements.