John Gilligan released on bail from custody in Spain

Dublin criminal John Gilligan has been released from jail in southern Spain less than two months after his arrest for suspected drugs and weapon offences.

Gilligan, who was freed seven years ago after 17 years behind bars in Ireland, mostly for drug crime, was freed on bail for Christmas following an application by his defence lawyer. He was released last Monday.

The 68-year-old has been banned from leaving Spain, required to surrender his passport and ordered to sign on every fortnight at court as part of his release conditions.

He is thought to have returned to the villa near the Costa Blanca town of Torrevieja where he was arrested on October 20th.

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Gilligan was one of six people arrested at the time as part of an investigation by Spanish police into alleged drug smuggling.

Garda officers familiar with his case believe Gilligan had been confident that he could retake a place in the Irish drugs trade as he slowly expanded a modest drugs and gun smuggling business over the last 18 months.

During the raid in which Gilligan was arrested Spanish police said they seized four kilos of marihuana and 15,000 sleeping pills called zimmos.

However, security sources in Dublin doubt that a the Colt Python revolver found when he was arrested was the same firearm used to shoot dead Veronica Guerin in 1996.

They expressed surprise the Spanish authorities had stated publicly that the gun was being checked for possible links to the journalist’s killing.

Spanish police said they had found a rare gun of the “same make and model” as that used to murder Guerin.

In the early and mid-1990s Gilligan was one of the biggest drug traffickers in the Republic. However, when his gang murdered Guerin in 1996 the gang imploded, with some members going on the run abroad and others being arrested in Ireland.

While Gilligan was never convicted of the murder, he was put on trial for drug smuggling and one of the longest drug-related prison sentences in the history of the State was imposed on him.

The gun used by two men on a motorbike to shoot Guerin on the Naas Dual Carriageway on June 26th, 1996, has never been found.

Gilligan could have been kept in prison without charge for at least two years.

A judicial source in Spain indicated the ongoing court investigation by a judge tasked with deciding whether Gilligan and the five other suspects should face trial was nearly complete.

The source said: “The individual’s defence lawyer requested his conditional release on bail and the state prosecution service did not oppose the request.

“The court agreed to release this person on bail because it considers the investigation is nearly completed and less burdensome measures can be adopted for the person under investigation that will also guarantee he does not escape the action of justice.

“As conditions of his release, as well as the payment of bail, he has been banned from leaving Spain, his passport has been removed and he has to sign on every fortnight at court. The investigation against this person and five others is ongoing.”