Laurence Dollimore
FOUR Brits have been arrested by Spanish cops in connection with the kidnapping and murder of a fellow Briton three years ago.
Francis Brennan was found washed up in a sealed plastic bag on Alicante’s La Zenia beach in 2014.
It follows a joint operation between the Guardia Civil and Merseyside Police.
Two of the men were cuffed in Liverpool while the other two were picked up in Xabia.
The arrests bring to an end the third phase of Operation Brennan, which has been an ongoing investigation for more than three years.
The joint task force carried out five home raids, two in Liverpool, in which they seized money, jewellery and 60 kilos of drugs, and three in Spain, where agents seized €30,000 euros, £40,000, a quantity of valuable jewels and two vehicles.
They have also blocked bank accounts and seized properties collectively worth €2 million.
Brennan’s body washed up onto La Zenia Beach wrapped in plastic three years ago.
The 25-year-old Brit had been abducted by three men on January 24, 2014 in the Xàbia.
It is believed they had identified themselves as policemen, bundled him into a vehicle before kidnapping him and holding him for what was alleged to be a debt that he had incurred related to the trafficking of drugs with another British drug dealer, Paul Scott, who was arrested as he flew into the UK from Holland on board a light aircraft.
Scott was facing life imprisonment in England for the importation of more than 40 tons of cocaine.
A 54-year-old Englishman named Paul Graham Monk was soon arrested in Xàbia.
Monk was also allegedly involved in the abduction and murder of Brennan, as well as activities related to drug trafficking and money laundering.
He was one of the 10 most wanted criminals in the UK and was discovered hiding out in an urbanization of Xàbia.
Cops found €125,000 euros in cash, a pistol with silencer, a forged Slovenian passport and documentation relating to the crime that was being investigated and which then led to the beginning of the third Phase of Operation BRENNAN.
Monk has since been moved back to UK where in March he was sentenced at the Old Bailey to 18 years in prison for drug trafficking, having been found guilty of shipping cocaine into the United Kingdom to a value of £31 million.
It is understood that when he has served his UK prison term he will be transferred back to Spain where he will then face the murder charge.
