Spanish police investigating the murder of Dubliner Paddy Doyle were last night questioning eight men, including one Irish national, after a seizure of cocaine valued at €9.2 million.
The drugs were found in Estepona on the Costa del Sol close to where 27-year-old Doyle was gunned down on Monday.
It has now emerged that Doyle was on his way to meet a British criminal contact when the car he was in was ambushed by the occupants of another vehicle down a side street.
A gang of foreign criminals based in the area have emerged as the prime suspects for the killing.
Security sources in southern Spain said they were investigating possible links between yesterday's drugs haul and the murder of the Irishman.
The Spanish interior ministry's senior official in Malaga, Juan López-Garzón, said: "All the signs pointed to a connection between the drugs and Doyle's death and the men in custody appear to be linked to Monday's incident [ the murder]."
However, senior Garda sources were treating the development with caution, saying it had yet to be definitively established that the drugs and murder were linked.
Some 115kg of cocaine, valued at €9.2 million, was discovered in false compartments in a furniture lorry. Security sources in Spain said the cocaine was believed to be high in purity and was about to be taken out of the area when the police moved in.
The same sources said they believed Doyle's murder was linked to a drugs row with rival drugs traffickers in Spain rather than an Irish gangland feud.
Doyle, from Portland Row, North Circular Road, Dublin, was a member of one of two drugs gangs based in Crumlin and Drimnagh. The groups have been involved in a feud since 2001 which has so far claimed 10 lives.
Doyle was a suspect in two of the killings. He is believed to have shot dead Joseph Rattigan (18) in Drimnagh in 2002. Gardaí also suspect he shot dead Noel Roche (27) in Clontarf in November 2005.
Doyle, who was also an armed robber, fled Ireland after the Roche killing. He went first to Liverpool and Manchester before leaving for Spain.
Doyle's associates were behind the attempted murder of Martin Foley, also known as the Viper, in Kimmage, Dublin, last Saturday week.
There were conflicting reports emerging from Spain as to the nationalities of those arrested yesterday in connection with the cocaine haul.
Some reports said seven of the eight were Britons, while the eighth was an Irishman.
Reliable senior Garda sources in Dublin said they understood at least four of the men were Britons, one Irish and that two or three others were either Spanish or Moroccan.
The same sources said that while one of the men had given Spanish police an Irish name and address his nationality and identity had not been confirmed.
Doyle was shot dead at 2pm local time on Monday as he was travelling in the front passenger seat of a BMW 4X4 vehicle driven by Dublin criminal Gary Hutch in La Cancelada, Estepona.
The 26-year-old is a nephew of the criminal Gerry Hutch, also known as the Monk.
Two men in a green car ambushed Hutch's and Doyle's 4X4. One of the attackers opened fire, hitting the windscreen and passenger door. Hutch crashed into a lamppost and the two men ran for cover.
The gunman opened fire again, singling out Doyle and hitting him twice in the head as he tried to run away. He died at the scene. The Irish Timesunderstands Hutch has since spoken to investigators in Spain after presenting himself at a police station.
Initial reports suggested an associate of Doyle and Hutch, Freddie Thompson (27), Drimnagh, was in the vehicle when it was ambushed. However, these reports from Spain were incorrect, with sources now saying Thompson was not in the 4X4.