Laurence Dollimore
SPANISH police have arrested a fugitive tiger kidnapping suspect in southern Spain after he had evaded authorities for four years.
Jeffrey Melvin, 34, was held at Alicante Airport on a European arrest warrant.
Melvin, from Dublin, disappeared while on bail in 2012 for his alleged involvement in a tiger raid in the Irish capital.
Policia Nacional said in a statement: “The National Police have arrested at Alicante Airport an Irish fugitive.
“He was living in the province of Alicante with fake ID and adopted high levels of security to avoid being discovered.”
A tiger raid involves two separate crimes, with the first crime usually involving an abduction.
Rather than ask for a ransom, the captors then demand that a second crime be committed on their behalf.
Melvin was accused of robbing cash from Brinks Allied employee Reginald Shannon and of falsely imprisoning him, his mother Angela Shannon and a child at a property in Dublin.
Reginald Shannon was then sent to intercept a cash-in-transit van making a delivery at the Bank of Ireland branch on O’Connell street.
The female pair were later released unharmed by Melvin, who was once described in court as a Del Boy figure.
