Costa News Spain Breaking News | English News in Spain.
VETERAN Irish gangster John Gilligan cut a sorry figure as he signed on at a Costa Blanca courthouse today – his first appearance since being released on €10,000 bail last month.
The 73-year old looked like a shadow as he arrived at the court alone in Orihuela, near Torrevieja. He had swapped his usual dapper suit for scruffy, oversized shorts, a dirty white pair of trainers and an oversized shirt.
He no longer wore the expensive clothing that he did just a few months ago.
Gilligan instead appeared dishevelled and even used the classic trick to pretend to be on a phone when photographers appeared.
READ MORE Irish mobster John Gilligan in jail after pink cocaine laboratory found at his Costa Blanca Villa
The court officials let the Irishman slip out of his sign-on through a secret back door.
“Everyone went out through the front, except John,” said a witness.
“It is quite unbelievable that someone who has his past can receive preferential treatment in this way.”
Before his recent release, witnesses say Gilligan was reduced to sending desperate texts to friends and associates in Whatsapp groups across Alicante and Ireland begging for money to raise the €10,000.
READ MOREAfter spending eight months in prison, Irish criminal John Gilligan has been released on bail over charges of running a drug laboratory
“My name is **** I am a good friend of John Gilligan, he is 73, and in prison in Spain broke. John has done a lot for others in his life, and he now needs money help. No amount is too small.
“Please share with your friends this WhatsApp message so John’s close friends see it. To send to lawyer’s bank account. (Details are given). RE John Gilligan. Moneygram, Western Union or bank transfers. (sic)”
As part of the bail conditions, he was forced to surrender his passport and sign in regularly at court.
He spent 8 1/2 months in remand at Alicante’s Fontcalent Prison, before he was released on 29 August.
The court appearance comes as Gilligan remains under investigation for allegedly running a Breaking Bad-style drugs laboratory capable of producing up to €8 million worth of narcotics.
READ MORE Irish ‘mobster’ John Gilligan, 71, avoids jail for ‘smuggling cannabis in flip flop shipments’ after securing plea bargain deal on Spain’s Costa Blanca
In December, Spanish police searched a two-bedroom house near Torrevieja and found what they called a sophisticated pink Cocaine production facility.
Operation Overlord involved elite Spanish anti-drugs squads and the UK National Crime Agency.
Officers released footage that showed heavily armed police using battering-rams to smash through the Costa Blanca property. A revolver was also hidden behind an exterior wall, and wrapped in plastic.
The laboratory could have produced between 300 and 600 kilos of drugs worth €4-8 million on the street, according to Spanish police sources.
READ MORE Irish justice swiftly delivered: The son of John Gilligan, a drug smuggler, appeared before a Dublin court in Dublin even before the Spanish extradition warrant was issued
Nine people were arrested during the operation. The property, according to reports, belonged his ex-partner Sharon Oliver. Sharon Oliver was not arrested and did not know about his activities.
This latest brush with the law came just 15 months after Gilligan struck a plea bargain deal for previous drugs charges, receiving a suspended 22-month prison sentence and €14,000 in fines.
In that case he confessed to masterminding an operation of smuggling cannabis and sleeping pills from Spain to Ireland, hiding the drugs and pills in boxes with toys for children and flip-flops.
READ MOREFour members from a notorious Irish drug gang, led by John Gilligan, are arrested in Spain’s Costa Blanca
Gilligan’s criminal history spans decades. He was famously acquitted in 1996 of the murder of Irish journalist Veronica Guerin. The gun that was found at his arrest in 2020 was originally linked to this case.
His son Darren and associate ‘Fat’ Tony Armstrong were among seven other men who received suspended 18-month sentences in the earlier drugs case.
The criminal veteran is expected to be free until he faces trial for his latest drug charges if prosecutors choose to press the case.
Click here to read more Crime & Law News from The Olive Press.
