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Spanish police say a weapon that could be used to kill Irish journalist Veronica Guerin had been hidden “as a souvenir” in the garden of a drug trafficker’s villa on the Costa Blanca.
Detectives conducted a raid on the home of the infamous Irish criminal John gilligan this week and I found a gun of the same make and model as the one used to assassinate Ms. Guerin in 1996.
They say the Colt Python .357 Magnum seized from Gilligan’s home in Torrevieja, near Alicante, is very rare, although it will take “months” to determine if it is the murder weapon.
Journalist Veronica Guerin was assassinated in 1996
Guerin was working for the Sunday Independent when she was shot and killed at a red light on the Naas highway outside Dublin 24 years ago.
The weapon used in his murder was never found.
The crime led to Gilligan’s trial and acquittal for plotting his murder and a 28-year prison sentence for importing two tonnes of cannabis resin worth £ 32 million.
He has always denied his involvement in the murder.
A well-located Spanish source said: “On the one hand, it would not make sense for Gilligan to keep the murder weapon at home because it would incriminate him. But this weapon was not being stored for use, quite the contrary.
“It had been hidden by someone who had placed the gun in a hole they dug in the ground and covered it with gravel and a type of cloth that is used to prevent weeds from entering before more gravel piles on top.
“Normally, criminals keep their guns in places where they can easily reach them, like a drawer next to the bed, but this one kept it as if it were a memory of someone who did not want to be separated from her, outside instead of inside, where easily be found. “
The police in Spain raided the house of John Gilligan
Another insider said that the .357 Magnum is a “very large and bulky revolver that is not easy to hide and the type of weapon that is very rarely seen.”
A highly experienced Spanish officer who specializes in fighting organized crime revealed that he had only seen two weapons of the type confiscated from Gilligan’s garden in the last 20 years.
“It will take months for the police involved in this case to determine whether the weapon was used to kill the Irish journalist,” he said.
Gilligan was taken away in handcuffs. Pic: National Police
“The Spanish police will already be in contact with Garda and will obtain the projectiles recovered from the autopsy of Veronica Guerin.
“Each weapon is unique, like a fingerprint and when you shoot a cartridge you leave micro identifications that are characteristic of a specific weapon and in ballistics differentiate one projectile from another and one weapon from another.”
During the raid, cannabis, pills, cell phones, cash and weapons were seized. Pic: National Police
He added that the fact that the weapon was so rare made it “very possible” that it was the murder weapon.
Well-placed sources said the raid on the drug baron’s villa took place while he was preparing a delivery to Ireland of marijuana and powerful prescription sleeping pills.
Gilligan has not yet been formally charged with any crime, as the charges are only filed shortly before the trial in Spain, but he is detained along with five other suspects for crimes against public health, illegal possession of firearms and belonging to a criminal band.
Former friend Brian Meehan was convicted of Guerin’s murder in 1999 and remains in prison.
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