The dangerous world of the Costa del Crime

Paddy Doyle is the latest name on a growing list of young criminals to be killed overseas.

When Veronica Guerin was murdered almost 12 years ago, many in the criminal fraternity in Ireland decided to avoid the subsequent crackdown on organised crime by simply leaving the country.

Spain was regarded as a well-known staging post for massive drugs shipments from South America, Asia and the Netherlands. And southern Spain was regarded as a thieves' playground. It was, and still is, a Costa del Crime, where Irish criminals can organise their multimillion-euro shipments to the Republic far from the glare of the Garda.

Many believe the Spanish police already have enough criminals of their own without going after foreign gangs.

Doyle is one of a generation of young Irishmen to take their chances on the Costa del Crime. But while young criminals like Doyle are seduced by the easy money that comes with a few successful drug shipments to the Republic, the risks are massive. Some, like Doyle, pay the ultimate price.

"They are used to being a big fish in a small pond in Ireland," said one senior Garda source.

"They might be in a gang that has access to guns and gets its own way by shooting people or threatening them. But when they head off to Spain they might try the same tactics with people, bigger players, who teach them their place in the pecking order by shooting them."

Gardaí who spoke to The Irish Timeslast night said Doyle may have been killed as part of the ongoing Crumlin-Drimnagh feud in Dublin. However, they believe it is more likely he fell foul of criminals in Spain and was killed as part of a local row.

The former leaders of the notorious Dublin Westies gang, Shane Coates and Stephen Sugg, were killed in the same way.

They left Ireland in late 2003 to escape the attention of gardaí, the media and a rival Blanchardstown gang who were trying to kill them.

While feared in Dublin, they immediately clashed with an international drug dealer in Spain over money and were killed in January 2004, just weeks after arriving in Spain.

They were executed, both shot in the head, and dumped in a concrete grave near Alicante.

John McKeon, from Finglas in north Dublin, who was known to Doyle and is understood to be involved in the drugs trade, has been missing in Spain  for the past three years. Gardaí  believe he may have been murdered.

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 in a row with his own gang.

In June 2000, Dublin heroin dealer Derek Dunne was shot dead in Amsterdam.

With more Irish dealers going to Europe to seek their fortunes gardaí expect the body count to keep rising.