Europe proves risky business for criminals on the run

ANALYSIS:Prominent Irish gangland criminals have relocated to Europe with mixed fortunes

IRISH DRUG dealers began basing themselves in mainland Europe following the major crackdown on organised crime in Ireland and the establishment of the Criminal Assets Bureau after the 1996 murder of Veronica Guerin.

Jailed drug dealer John Gilligan, who led the gang that shot Guerin, sourced from the Netherlands the cannabis he sold in Ireland. He briefly fled to Amsterdam after the crime reporter’s murder.

Other members of his gang, including Peter Mitchell (40), Summerhill, Dublin, fled to Europe after the killing, stayed there and continued drug dealing.

In 2004 Mitchell was jailed in the Netherlands on drugs and ammunition charges.

Last August he survived a gun attack at a bar in the Spanish resort of Puerto Banus near Marbella.

He is currently awaiting trial in the Netherlands on gun charges after his arrest in June while allegedly carrying a hand-gun and a semi-automatic pistol, both loaded.

Mitchell has not been alone in operating in Europe for many years.

Members of Limerick’s McCarthy-Dundon gang, feuding gangs in Dublin’s Crumlin and Drimnagh suburbs and a large number of criminals from Dublin and Cork are all regularly travelling to Europe.

They source massive shipments of drugs – usually cocaine from South America and heroin from Afghanistan – for shipment to Ireland.

While many of these gang members have managed to operate lucratively for long periods, others have not lasted so long.

Last March the body of Keith Ennis (30), Clondalkin, Dublin, was dismembered and stuffed into a suitcase which was then thrown into a canal in Amsterdam. He had left Ireland in 2007 while facing gun and drugs charges. He lived in Spain before moving to the Netherlands.

Paddy Doyle, Portland Place, Dublin city, was shot dead near Marbella last February as part of a localised drugs row there.

He was the chief suspect in three murders in the Crumlin- Drimnagh feud.

The former leaders of the Dublin Westies gang, Shane Coates and Stephen Sugg, were shot dead in southern Spain in early 2004 in a row with other dealers based in Spain.

Drug dealer John McKeon, Finglas, Dublin, has been missing presumed dead in Spain for more than three years.

Cork drug dealer Michael “Danser” Ahern was found dead in the freezer of an apartment in Portugal in 2005. He was killed as part of a personal row with other criminals.

Drug dealer Richard Keogh, Cabra, Dublin, was shot dead near Marbella in Spain last January in a row over drugs with an international cartel.

While primarily engaged in drug-dealing, Irish criminals based in Europe have also been involved in gun-running.

Twelve months ago a shipment of 41 guns and heroin and cannabis valued at €4.2 million were seized in Dublin and Belfast. They had been sourced in the Netherlands.