THIS is the moment police raided a gym linked to a family allegedly involved in a bloody gangland feud after arresting a man over the death of Gary Hutch.
Guardia Civil officers confirmed today that a 30-year-old Irishman, suspected of being a drugs and arms trafficker, is being held in Madrid.
It is understood he is an associate of a well-known crime family in Crumlin.
They also released images of a raid on the MGM Gym in Puerto Banus near Marbella. The officers forced their way into the premises at dawn as part of a cross-border operation involving searches of properties on the Costa del Sol and Dublin.
The footage shows an officer leading a sniffer dog around a bedroom, while a colleague opens a safe after brushing it down for fingerprints.
Investigators can be seen counting wads of 500, 100 and 50 euro notes which were bagged after being removed from the safe.
Masked officers were also filmed sifting through paperwork and analysing a gun that appeared to have been found on the premises.
A garda officer who had flown in from Ireland to witness the operation was clearly visible in the footage as Spanish officers examined the weapon.
A spokesman for the Civil Guard confirmed the arrest of man.
“He was arrested in Madrid but we don’t have a specific location,” he said.
He is expected to appear in front of a judge at a closed court hearing on the Costa del Sol in coming days after being quizzed by police.
Sparking a feud
Gary Hutch, 34, was gunned down outside his home in Miraflores near Fuengirola on the Costa del Sol on 24 September last year.
His killer chased him round a residential estate popular with holidaymakers and expats before cornering him and shooting him in the head and chest.
The shocking murder sparked a bloody feud between the Kinahan and Hutch families in Dublin and Spain which has claimed eight lives.
News of the arrest of Hutch’s alleged killer followed a series of dawn raids in Ireland and Spain this morning.
Civil Guard officers said today: “The Civil Guard has arrested a drugs and arms trafficker for a murder which happened in Malaga in summer last year.
The material author of Gary Hutch’s murder, killed at his house on 24 September 2015, has been detained as part of Operation Geraneo.
“After this killing a feud between two gangs based in Ireland and Spain led to another seven murders.”
With reporting by Michelle Hennessy
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