Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
MOB RAID DRAMA
Spanish cops arrest ‘senior Kinahan gang member’ in armed hotel swoop
THIS dramatic footage shows the moment a “senior member” of the Kinahan crime cartel is arrested in his Spanish hotel bed.
Armed officers held the Irishman after storming his room as he slept beside an unidentified woman in the Costa Dorada resort of Salou, south of Barcelona.
Footage released by police showed the elite team – carrying semi-automatic weapons with flashlights – run into the room as other officers went through a back terrace.
They are heard shouting, “Las Manos, Las Manos” – English for ‘Hands up’ before yelling in English, “Don’t move”.
The 34-year-old, who is wanted on weapons and drugs charges and is also a suspect in the 2010 murder of gang boss Eamon “The Don” Dunne, was driven to Madrid by police for an extradition hearing.
It was not clear yesterday if he had consented to or opposed his forced return to Ireland at the behind-closed-doors proceedings.
Spanish police revealed they had come close to catching the major league gangster in November last year at Malaga airport. But he escaped after crossing a busy motorway as officers closed in on him when he went to meet relatives arriving from Ireland.
The European Arrest Warrant was issued after two guns and
cocaine were allegedly found in his car during a search in 2010. The fugitive is also understood to be facing charges over the gunning down of Dunne at a friend’s birthday party in Cabra, Dublin, in 2010 in what was described as “a perfect hit”.
The gangland boss was sitting on a bar stool when his killer walked in and told terrified customers to get on the floor before blasting his victim with two shots to the head and three others to vital organs.
A spokesman for the Spanish police confirmed the Costa Dorada arrest and identified the person only by his initials.
He said: “Spanish National Police officers have arrested an Irishman born in 1982 on foot of a European Arrest warrant at his hotel in Salou.
“The warrant was issued by Irish authorities for illegal possession of firearms and drugs, relating to a search on the suspect’s vehicle in 2013 in which gardai found two loaded guns and cocaine.
“Investigators were made aware the fugitive had left Ireland to head to Spain in May 2016 using a passport issued by the Irish authorities which he had in a false name. Efforts to locate him centred on Malaga due to his alleged links to the Kinahan organised Irish crime family.”
He added the arrest was carried out by Special Operations Group officers who are often called on to take out terrorists.