Spanish police denied yesterday they were searching for two members of the "Westies" gang, allegedly abducted from their Costa Blanca apartment two weeks ago.
"We are not doing anything to find them, because we have not been asked to," said a National Police spokesman in Alicante .
The girlfriends of Mr Shane Coates and his accomplice, Mr Steven Sugg, reported that the men had been abducted. They made their report at the local civil guard station in Pilar de la Horadada, a village near the resort of Torrevieja where the couples are believed to have been living since the end of last year.
The women told police their partners were snatched from their apartment and driven away in Coates's car, which was parked outside their apartment building. They had heard nothing from them since and there have been no reports of any abandoned cars.
Mr Coates is wanted for questioning in connection with a shooting in Dublin last May, although no request for his extradition has been received in Spain.
Surprisingly, the report made to their local police station by the two women had not reached the civil guard headquarters in Alicante, 45 kms away, by yesterday.
One officer said they knew nothing officially about any missing men, and had only heard about it from Irish press queries. "We are not looking for any Irishmen," he said.
Meanwhile, gardai were following up an anonymous call to Blanchardstown garda station last night in which a caller claimed the the two men were safe.