Five arrested in Málaga over disappearance of Dubliner Darren Hoolahan
Spanish police arrested five men linked to an Irish gang in connection with the disappearance of Dublin man Darren Hoolahan. An AK-47, cash, and drugs were seized.
Operation Bernabé: Five held in Spain over missing Dublin man's suspected kidnapping
Spanish police arrested five men on 27 October during Operation Bernabé, a raid targeting a gang suspected of involvement in the disappearance of Dublin man Darren Hoolahan, TheJournal.ie reports.
Hoolahan, 40, a native of Dublin and brother of Republic of Ireland footballer Wes Hoolahan, went missing on 10 June on Spain's Costa del Sol, where he had been living for several years. TheJournal.ie understands he had ties to a gang with connections to the Kinahan cartel in Spain and fell foul of that gang.
The five suspects — four Irish nationals and one English national, aged between 28 and 58 — were arrested in the Málaga province towns of Estepona and Benahavís. Málaga police described all five as members of a "well-known Irish gang". They face charges including unlawful detention, possession of military-grade weapons, illegal possession of firearms, vehicle theft, drug trafficking, and membership in a criminal organisation.
One of the men arrested was subject to a European Arrest Warrant issued by Irish authorities in connection with a separate violent robbery.
Police conducted raids on five properties in Estepona and one in Benahavís as part of the operation. During those searches, officers seized three handguns — one fitted with a silencer — two military-grade weapons including an AK-47 and a submachine gun, and a machete. They also recovered several mobile phones, two computers, a stolen vehicle, eight additional vehicles, €61,520 in cash, and 37.8kg of hashish.
On Tuesday, Málaga police released a detailed account of the events surrounding Hoolahan's disappearance. According to investigators, Hoolahan travelled on 10 June to meet an individual at a café in San Pedro Alcántara, in the Marbella area. His partner filed a missing persons report at Marbella police station the following day.
A month before he vanished, Hoolahan had received what police described as "a warning": several vehicles belonging to him were set alight outside his home in a residential part of Marbella.
Investigators subsequently analysed evidence and reconstructed Hoolahan's movements, concluding that he did attend the meeting at the San Pedro bar and then got into the vehicle of the person who had arranged it. Police believe he was kidnapped following a falling-out with members of a cell linked to the "well-known Irish gang based on the Málaga coast". He was then taken to a rural area in Estepona and transferred to a second vehicle.
That vehicle was later found burnt out in a mountainous area — an act police characterised as an attempt to destroy evidence. His whereabouts remain unknown.
With reporting by Niall O'Connor.
Source: TheJournal.ie