Barcelona - The Neapolitan crime organization Camorra is extending its activities in Spain, which has become one of its main bases abroad, police sources said Monday after one of the Camorra's top drug lords was detained in Barcelona.

Salvatore Zazo, 52, who is regarded as the leader of the Camorra clan Mazzarella, had purchased businesses in Spain in order to settle there, Spanish police said.

Zazo was detained at a Barcelona call centre in the company of a bodyguard on Saturday. He carried 4,000 euros (5,400 dollars) in cash and four mobile phones.

Zazo was the fourth Camorra suspect captured in Spain's north-eastern Catalonia region over six months.

He is believed to have used Spain as a base to liaise between the Camorra and Colombian drug cartels, smuggling large quantities of Colombian cocaine to Naples, the daily El Pais quoted an Italian police source as saying.

Neapolitan organized crime has created logistical bases in some of the main Spanish cities, where many Camorra drug traffickers and fugitives have settled, according to the daily.

The Camorra has a large network of Latin American and Spanish collaborators in Spain, where it also engages in money laundering, El Pais said. (dpa)