Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Gilligan held with £20k over money laundering
Thug arrested & charged as he tries to board Spanish flight from Belfast
CONVICTED drug trafficker John Gilligan has been caged in Northern Ireland after he was arrested on money laundering charges.
“Factory John” was carrying €23,000 (£20,000) in cash when he was detained by detectives from the National Crime Agency.
He was arrested by Border Force officers as he prepared to board a flight to Spain at Belfast International Airport on Thursday.
He appeared at Coleraine Magistrates Court yesterday on charges of attempting to remove criminal property under Northern Ireland proceeds of crime legislation.
He was remanded in custody to Maghaberry Prison.
The 66-year-old had applied for bail but was refused as the judge agreed with police who said he was a flight risk.
Officers also alleged he would commit further offences.
The National Crime Agency yesterday released a statement outlining its involvement in the case.
It said: “National Crime Agency officers in Northern Ireland have today charged a man with money laundering offences.
“John Joseph Gilligan, 66, from the Dublin area, was arrested yesterday evening [Thursday] by Border Force officers while attempting to board a flight to Spain at Belfast International Airport. Officers recovered approximately €23,000 at the scene. Gilligan appeared at Coleraine Magistrates Court and was remanded in custody until September 4 when he will appear before Antrim Magistrates Court.”
Factory John was photographed by a Daily Mirror reporter on board a flight to Spain in July.
The former mob boss, whose drug gang are suspected to have murdered journalist Veronica Guerin in 1996, flew out to Alicante with another man.
He was seen dozing off on the flight from Belfast International Airport.
He has been moving between Ireland, England and Spain in a bid to avoid being detected by old enemies – and to stay under the radar.
The one-time drug lord was travelling light with only the clothes on his back.
He had no hand luggage and went straight through without collecting bags at the carousel.
The Mirror also revealed Gilligan is back socialising on his old West Dublin stomping ground – despite a previous bid on his life there. He was spotted in Clondalkin in the company of an English woman.
On that occasion the swaggering thug seemed carefree even though he was shot a short distance away four years earlier.
Gilligan was freed from Portlaoise maximum security prison on October 15, 2014, after serving more than 17 years of a 20-year sentence.