Spanish police have arrested the head of one of Europe's largest money-laundering groups, which was linked to a Costa del Sol drug gang and used the sale of high-end vodka to restaurants as a cover.

A police spokesman told Reuters that John Francis Morrissey, the gang's known ringleader, was arrested Monday.

A total of three people were arrested in Spain and one in England, police said in a statement.

The criminal network laundered more than 200 million euros in less than a year and a half, or up to 350,000 euros a day.

It used what is known as the traditional hawala money-transfer system, widely used in Pakistan and the Middle East, which allows money to be exchanged between traders through a handshake, a piece of paper or in trust.

Police said Morrissey was linked to the Irish Kinahan clan, a drug trafficking gang operating on Spain's Costa del Sol, and was involved in collecting large sums of cash from criminal organizations operating in the country.