A well-known Irish criminal whom gardaí believe has been one of the biggest suppliers of drugs to Dublin gangs, is missing presumed dead in the south of Spain, The Irish Timeshas learned.
The man, from Finglas in Dublin and in his late 40s, was a key associate of leading drug dealer Marlo Hyland, who was shot dead in Finglas last month.
The missing man had also been supplying drugs to virtually all of the major dealers in west Dublin and to some gangs in the north of the city.
His suspected murder would be the fourth recent killing of a major Irish drug dealer based abroad. Two leading members of the Blanchardstown-based Westies gang, Shane Coates and Stephen Sugg, went missing in Alicante, Spain, in January 2004. Their graves were found there last July.
Corkman Michael "Danser" Ahern was found dead in the freezer of an apartment in Portugal in September 2005. A known drug dealer, he had been beaten and shot.
Senior Garda sources last night confirmed detectives in Dublin began receiving intelligence in recent days suggesting the latest victim had gone missing about 10 days ago. The reports suggest the man had been shot dead close to his base in the south of Spain. His body had not been located last night.
Gardaí said the same information has been received from a number of underworld sources and that they are treating it seriously.
"Obviously no body has been found but we have the information from a number of people and we believe there have been no sightings of him for just over a week," said one source.
The missing man had been supplying Hyland's gang with cocaine, heroin and cannabis from Spain since last summer. Before that he had been living in Liverpool in England, from where he had been sourcing drugs for Irish criminals.
While mostly based in Spain, of late he had continued to travel to Ireland and Britain to meet his wide network of criminal contacts.
Gardaí believe he had been in Dublin just before Christmas for a short period. They say the intelligence gathered indicates he was murdered shortly after returning to Spain.
Gardaí described him as a "very significant" supplier of drugs to the Irish market.
He had been involved in the drugs trade in Ireland since the 1980s.
He served a lengthy prison term for his role in a major drugs importation business where large quantities of cannabis were being landed from a ship off the west coast.