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Date Published: 31/01/2025

Pink cocaine lab busted at Irish mobster John Gilligan's Orihuela Costa home

The drug kingpin and 8 others were arrested for manufacturing 600 kilos of drugs in an operation carried out in Murcia and Alicante

Notorious Irish mobster John Gilligan, infamous for avoiding jail for the murder of organised crime investigative journalist Veronica Guerin back in 1996, is once again behind bars in Spain after a massive pink cocaine lab was dismantled inside his Orihuela Costa home.

A raid of his property in mid-December uncovered a Breaking Bad-style secret laboratory that was being used to manufacture huge quantities of drugs, particularly pink cocaine, more commonly known as tusi. According to the National Police, as much as 600 kilos of narcotics were seized in joint operations carried out on the Costa Blanca and in the Region of Murcia.

Gilligan narrowly avoided prison back in September 2023 after reaching a plea deal with Spanish prosecutors and was instead handed a 22-month suspended sentence. This was following another raid of his Torrevieja property, where a firearm was discovered alongside drugs and sleeping pills hidden in boxes containing children’s toys and flip-flops destined for Ireland.

This time around, the gangster was more difficult to track down but his movements aroused suspicion as he continually switched between houses in Alicante and Murcia, bouncing between San Pedro del Pinatar, San Javier and Orihuela Costa. In these areas, consumption of pink cocaine has spiked.

As a result of the joint investigation with the National Crime Agency (NCA) of the United Kingdom, a criminal family clan of Macedonian origin, based in La Alberca, was identified. They allegedly acted under the instructions of the Irish criminal in order to systematically manufacture and distribute different types of narcotic substances in the region.

Gilligan was arrested on December 18 in a villa in Orihuela Costa. Two other searches were subsequently carried out at the homes of the Macedonian clan in La Alberca, where a significant quantity of the same drug was seized.

In the following days, eight more people were arrested for their involvement in the events and further arrests are not ruled out.

During the investigation, more than 16 kilos of tusi, 2 and a half kilos of cocaine, 540 litres of illegal drug precursors, 93.5 kilos of cutting substances for the production of synthetic drugs and a 75-litre drum of methylamine (a key precursor in the manufacture of methamphetamine and a highly flammable and toxic substance) were seized.

In addition, the agents found various instruments and machinery necessary for the production of drugs, as well as a revolver hidden in a bricked-up wall inside the property and several mobile phones.

A police source said: “We believe the criminal organisation, if it hadn’t been smashed, could have produced between 300 and 600 kilos of illegal drugs based on the substances seized at the lab.

“It’s difficult to say exactly what the drugs’ street value could have been but we’ve calculated it would have been between four and eight million euros.”

The 72-year-old Irish drug lord was arrested in Ireland in 2001 and sentenced to 28 years in prison for drug trafficking, specifically hashish, for which he served 17 years and was released in 2013.

Since then, Gilligan has been arrested several times in Spain for drug trafficking-related offences. One of the most high-profile arrests was in the context of Operation Godfather, in which the National Police of Murcia dismantled a network in 2020 that he allegedly led with his son, Darren Gilligan.

John Gilligan and the eight others arrested in December’s raid are currently remanded in custody.

Images: Policia Nacional

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