Gerry Hutch arrested in Spain on foot of European warrant

The Dublin criminal Gerry Hutch, also known as The Monk, was in custody in Spain on Thursday night following his arrest by the police there. His detention followed the recent intensification of an international search for him.

He now faces extradition to Ireland on serious criminal charges relating to the Kinahan-Hutch feud.

Mr Hutch, with an address in Clontarf, north Dublin, was arrested by the Guardia Civil on the Costa del Sol. He had been tracked to the Fuengirola area in recent months.

He had been under surveillance in the region earlier this year but gardaí and the Spanish police believe he fled to Eastern Europe when news of a European arrest warrant being issued for him broke in the media.

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The 59-year-old has been wanted by the Garda in relation to his alleged involvement in an attack by a group of gunmen at the Regency Hotel, north Dublin, in 2016, during which one man was shot dead a number of others were wounded.

The Garda had sent a file to the DPP relating to Mr Hutch’s alleged role in that attack, and a direction to charge Mr Hutch was made. However, he had left Ireland in 2016 and his whereabouts were unknown in recent years.

Gardaí applied to the High Court for a European arrest warrant, which was granted and circulated to law enforcement agencies across Europe. Mr Hutch's arrest in Spain, on foot of that warrant, now means he faces extradition to the Republic to face trial, though he can fight that process.

The last time he was seen in public in Ireland was 5½ years ago on the occasion of the funeral of his brother Eddie Hutch (59) in Dublin's north inner city where the family is originally from. Eddie Hutch was shot dead in February 2016, just days after, and in revenge for, the attack on the Regency Hotel.

That attack, at a boxing tournament weigh-in at the hotel, escalated the Kinahan-Hutch feud which has claimed 18 lives to date. The Regency attack occurred on February 5th, 2016, when a group of men dressed in mock Garda Emergency Response Unit uniforms and armed with AK47s burst into the venue with two other gunmen, one dressed as a woman.

Daniel Kinahan, the Dublin criminal named in court as a leading figure in the Kinahan cartel, was at the event and gardaí believe he was the gunmen's main target. However, he managed to flee to safety as several other men were shot, including David Byrne (34) from Crumlin, who died from his injuries.

Mr Hutch now faces charges in the Republic related to the attack, though he is not suspected of being one of the gunmen on the day.

The Regency attack was widely seen as revenge for the Kinahan cartel's September 2015 murder in Spain of Gary Hutch (34), a former member of the cartel and the nephew of Gerry Hutch.