VETERAN crime boss John Gilligan was arrested in Spain on suspicion of operating separate smuggling rings for cannabis and prescription drugs.
Spanish police officers also believe the aging gangster used drug proceeds to launder cash through a number of businesses in Alicante.
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According to a source, his arrest followed the discovery of a gun in the garden of a commercial building near Alicante. However, Gilligan has also been suspected of sending prescription drugs to Ireland and the UK from Spain.
Ballistics experts mean the analysis of the weapon.
The son of the professional criminal Darren and another Irishman are supposed to help the Spanish police in their investigation into drug smuggling.
Spanish sources claim Gilligan, 68, was at the center of an operation that involved unsuspecting couriers returning packages of cannabis resin through Dublin Airport.
DISCOVERY OF MEDICINAL PRODUCTS
The packages between five and ten kilos were then picked up by traveler gangs in West Dublin for sale on the streets.
It is a far cry from the huge amounts of hash that Factory John brought in in its heyday in the 1990s, which eventually resulted in a 28-year prison sentence, which was reduced to 20 years on appeal.
Spanish police moved in as British police investigated Gilligan’s involvement in a prescription pill trade.
They believe he made sure that medicines are legally purchased in Spain and flown by mules to the UK.
It is believed that the PSNI gave its Spanish colleagues a lead on Gilligan after appearing in Belfast court in 2018 for money laundering.
Gilligan had been arrested while traveling through the city’s airport with € 20,000 in cash after arriving from Dublin in what authorities believed was an attempt to avoid verification by Gardai.
In his trial, PSNI heard that he had raised the money to buy prescription drugs in Spain and sell them on the street here.
Cops had found a torn part of a packet for the prescription sleeping pill, Zopiclone, that was hidden in a black diary he had.
The anti-insomnia pills are available on the continent for only € 8 for a pack of 28 and are sold individually for up to € 2.
The drug cannot be detected by drug dogs and has a much lesser penalty than cocaine or heroin for those in possession of large quantities.
“Up to his old tricks”
The case against Gilligan was dismissed by a judge and he has since moved between Spain, where he has a house in Alicante, and here.
In the meantime, the Irish sun can also show that the thug is not on welfare in Ireland.
He is considered broke by the authorities as the last of his properties were confiscated by CAB last year and a house in Lucan sold for € 380,000.
A former investigator who took aim at the hood over the years told us, “I’m not at all surprised that Gilligan is involved in another criminal conspiracy.
“He was only three years out of prison when caught in 1997, and now it looks like he’s up to his old tricks. He just can’t help himself, he loves to commit crimes.
“If he’s not on welfare, how can he finance his lifestyle? If he’s flown to Ireland from Spain, you can be sure that he’s not self-isolating. ”
Because of his constant connections with younger gangsters, Gilligan remains at risk every time he visits home.
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Just last week, a 26-year-old man was questioned by police about a gun attack on the home of Gilligan’s innocent sister Lorraine in Clondalkin, West Dublin.
The incident related to a feud in which one of his young employees was involved.
Gilligan barely survived in 2014 when an assassin broke into his brother’s home and shot him four times during a baptism.
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