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This is the dramatic moment when armed police officers arrest little gangster John Gilligan in Spain.
The images released by the Spanish police showed the famous 68-year-old Irish criminal face down in the kitchen of a local on the Costa Blanca surrounded by armed members of the Spanish police.
The footage also showed the moment when the police found a weapon in the garden of the house using a metal detector during the searches authorized by the court.
Spanish police believe that the weapon seized during the arrest of the convicted drug trafficker is the same type as the weapon used to assassinate journalist Verónica Guerin, 37, in 1996.
Sunday’s freelance reporter Guerin was shot dead in broad daylight in his red Opel Calibra as he stopped at the traffic light on the Naas highway.
(Image: Solarpix)
Well-placed law enforcement sources confirmed that Dublin gangster Gilligan was one of six men arrested after an operation against an alleged drug smuggling ring that resulted in the discovery of a weapon during court-authorized searches.
A spokesman for Spain’s National Police said: “National Police officers acting in cooperation with the Garda and the UK’s National Crime Agency have eliminated a gang of suspected drug traffickers and intercepted four postal deliveries with four kilos of marijuana and 15,000 hypnotic pills.
“The detainees, allegedly led by a well-known Irish criminal, were allegedly part of a violent gang of drug dealers and arms dealers and specialized in sending illegal goods from Spain to the UK and Ireland.”
In a statement, police described the alleged gang leader as a “well-known Irish criminal who was sentenced in 2001 to 28 years in prison for smuggling large amounts of cannabis resin into Ireland.”
A source said: “A revolver has also been found, of the same make and model used in the 1996 murder of an Irish journalist in Dublin.”
“His possible link to that crime is being investigated.”
The source added: “He did so 17 years after appealing the sentence. Years later, he was shot four times when he was at his brother’s house, although he managed to survive.
(Image: Cate McCurry / PA Wire)
“Irish investigators linked your organization to the 1996 murder of a journalist outside Dublin.
“The gun found in Alicante as part of the investigation is a Colt Python of the same make and model of gun that was used to kill the journalist.
“Investigations are ongoing and the Spanish police are talking to their counterparts in Ireland to try to establish whether it is the same weapon.”
Gilligan was acquitted of ordering the murder of Veronica Guerin in 2001, but sentenced to 28 years for drug trafficking.
A Garda spokesperson said: “We are aware of the press notification from the Spanish National Police regarding the arrest of an Irish citizen and the ongoing investigations.
“An Garda Síochána is working closely with the Spanish National Police in relation to this investigation.
“An Garda Síochána does not comment on ongoing investigations or operations / investigations carried out by other police forces.
“There is no Garda spokesperson available and all media inquiries should be directed to the Spanish National Police.”
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