- Gerry ‘The Monk’ Hutch has been arrested in Spain
- He was arrested as part of an international money laundering investigation
- The Monk has been a mainstay of the Irish gang for decades
Gerry ‘The Monk’ Hutch has been arrested by Spanish police as part of an international money laundering investigation.
Mr Hutch, 61, was arrested in Spain along with other family members and is being questioned by authorities.
It comes a day after a number of searches were carried out in the Republic of Ireland and Spain as part of an investigation into cross-border organized crime.
Irish police said a crime gang is suspected of being involved in money laundering in a number of jurisdictions.
Ten searches were carried out in Spain on Wednesday morning, as gardai from the Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation (GNBCI) in Spain support the Guardia Civil.
A Civil Guard officer attended the search in Dublin on Wednesday, at the request of Spanish authorities.
Gerry ‘The Monk’ Hutch has been arrested by Spanish police as part of an international money laundering investigation (File Image)
He was arrested in Spain along with other family members and is being questioned by authorities (File image)
Irish police chief Drew Harris said the searches and arrests are the result of information and evidence sharing between Irish and Spanish police.
Speaking at Garda headquarters in Dublin, Mr Harris said: ‘There is a legal process underway with the Spanish authorities so I cannot comment then on the details of yesterday’s operations and what happened. will happen in the coming days.
‘But I can say that for a number of years, more than two years, we have been closely involved with the Guardia Civil in terms of sharing information and then sharing evidence.
‘We will see today and in the coming days what the immediate results of that investigation are.
“It’s another organized crime group. They are very well known and so there is some notoriety regarding them.
‘But beyond that there is the scale of crime they are involved in.
“We have been involved in a lengthy and very thorough and focused investigation in relation to that organized crime group, and that has led to us working with our international partners to try to put an end to the criminality that the organized crime group has committed in its committed in its entirety. crime groups involved.
File photo dated 25/3/2006 of Gerry Hutch, pictured in the wing mirror of his stretch limo
Gerry Hutch wears a disguise as he leaves after attending the funeral service for his brother Eddie Hutch, at the Church of Our Lady of Lourdes in Dublin, Ireland, February 19, 2016
‘It is significant in terms of our cooperation with the Spanish authorities in this case and Europol. We’ll see some of the outcome of that in the next few days.”
Justice Minister Helen McEntee said: ‘I am not going to comment on any case, but what I will say is that a number of recent actions have made it very clear that An Garda Siochana is working very closely with our European and international counterparts to bring those those involved in organized crime to justice.
‘We know that crime knows no borders, we know that in order to evade the law, people will often leave the country and cross into other jurisdictions and that is why it is very important that Gardai have built very strong relationships with other police officers in other countries .
‘I have traveled to the UAE this week to sign a number of treaties to ensure that the business community can be strengthened, and especially those responsible for inflicting nothing but misery in our communities, all along and breadth of this country, that the people at the very top are held accountable.’