SPANISH COPS HOLD IRISHMAN IN ‘DRUGS GANG’ CRACKDOWN
36yr-old ‘driver’ is held over ‘posting pot home’
THIS is the moment Spanish cops arrested an Irishman on suspicion of playing a key role in an international drugs racket.
The 36-year-old was nabbed near Alicante by officers from the Guardia Civil as part of an investigation into a gang sending hundreds of thousands of euro worth of cannabis from there to Ireland by post.
Elite officers have been investigating the British-led gang for more than a year but only made their move against the Irish suspect in recent days.
He was a key suspect of Operation Topila, the Spanish crackdown on the gang running since February 2023.
Officers suspect the Irishman, who has not been named, was acting as security for the criminals.
Four alleged members were arrested in June last year but cops have now turned their attention to the Irish suspect.
Spanish cops say he was arrested as part of the long-running probe in which detectives analysed hundreds of hours of CCTV and other records and established the suspect’s identity.
They tracked him down to Rojales, near Alicante, and arrested him for driving a car connected to that gang.
He is believed to have been a shuttle driver – used to move drugs as well as scout the area of a shipment to make sure no cops are around.
He is now being held on suspicion of drugs trafficking and also using false documentation.
Officers suspect the gang, led by a British man, was sending cannabis to Ireland from the towns of San Miguel de Salinas and Orihuela Costa, both of which are near Alicante.
The cops began their probe in February 2023 when officials seized €40,000 worth of cannabis inside a bag at Madrid’s Barajas Airport that was being sent on a flight to Ireland.
The police tried to arrest the main suspect in March last year when he was chased by a Guardia Civil team, but he managed to escape. But he abandoned his car at the scene and when officers searched it they recovered 54kgs of cannabis destined for Ireland – worth more than €1million.
They then launched a manhunt for the fugitive and arrested him and three pals in San
Miguel de Salinas, a town 12 kilometres west of
MOB
Torrevieja, where several Irish gangs who also send drugs to Ireland via post were based.
They included an outfit led by pintsized mobster John Gilligan, 71, who was acquitted of the 1996 murder of crime reporter Veronica Guerin in Dublin but jailed for 20 years for cannabis importation.
In September last year, Gilligan walked free from a Spanish court after he admitted using courier services to smuggle cannabis and prescriptiononly drugs without licence to Ireland.
He also pleaded guilty to illegally possessing a firearm as part of a plea bargain deal ahead of his trial at a court in Torrevieja.
Guardia Civil officers tracked down the British suspect linked recently arrested Irishman latest scam in June last year.
He and three others were arrested in San Miguel de Salinas and charged with drug trafficking, refusing to follow lawful orders from police and belonging to a criminal group.
Cops seized another €1.2million of cannabis in the raids, as well as cash and other drugs paraphernalia.
The gang leader was refused bail, but the other three suspects were all let out pending their trial.
It’s at least the third scam busted by Spanish cops that saw drugs sent to Ireland by post in recent years.
As well as the Gilligan gang operation, cops also busted one run by associates of Sligo criminal Barry Young, 38, which was also based in the Torrevieja area.
Young later admitted directing a crime gang in Ireland, but was planning to set up a new crime empire in Torrevieja before gardai from Sligo nailed him. He was jailed for 11 years for directing a crime gang in
Ireland. to the for the