Dilip Kuner
A BLOODY gangland execution on the Costa del Sol has sparked furious calls for more police, as locals warn the holiday hotspot is turning into a ‘war zone’.
Two Scottish gangsters were gunned down in cold blood outside a packed Torreblanca (Fuengirola) pub on Saturday night, just moments after the Champions League final.
Now, police unions and local politicians are demanding urgent action to stop the Costa from descending into chaos.
Ross Monaghan, 43, and Eddie Lyons Jnr, 46 – both linked to Glasgow’s infamous Lyons crime family – were blown away in front of horrified tourists at Monaghan’s Irish Pub on the seafront.
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The chilling double hit is the eighth gangland-style shooting in the region this year alone, and the latest sign that international crime lords are using Spain’s sun-drenched coast as a bloody battleground.
A close friend of the bar’s manager told the Olive Press: “Oh God. She’s a really nice lady, a grafter and my friend. She is so traumatised.”
Now, Spain’s top police unions – including CEP, Jupol and UFP – have slammed the government for neglecting the rising tide of organised crime, demanding more boots on the ground, better equipment and stronger laws.
“We are being overwhelmed,” warned one union rep. “These are international criminals operating with impunity.”
Fuengirola’s mayor Ana Mula has also weighed in, blasting Madrid for ignoring requests for a new police station and demanding elite anti-mafia units be deployed before more innocent lives are lost.
“This area is being used by global crime networks,” she said. “We need urgent reinforcements.”
The brazen shooting of Monaghan and Lyons – reportedly ordered in Scotland just days earlier – has sparked fears of an all-out mob war spilling from Glasgow to the Mediterranean.
Sources say it stems from a bitter feud between the rival Daniel and Lyons crime families, allegedly triggered by a £500,000 cocaine deal gone wrong.
Only days earlier, a businessman was shot in Marbella in a suspected cartel dispute. In April, gunmen sprayed a café with bullets in Estepona, just minutes from a kids’ play area.
Holidaymakers are now questioning if the once-glitzy Costa del Sol is still safe.
“It’s like bloody Colombia,” one Brit tourist told us. “There’s sun, sea – and now bullets flying.”
Spanish cops say the investigation is ongoing. No arrests have yet been made.
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Scottish gangsters gunned down in front of terrified tourists as they watched Champions League final on the Costa del Sol
MASKED assassins executed two notorious crime bosses outside a packed Fuengirola pub as terrified holidaymakers tried to flee.
The two high-ranking Scottish gangsters were professionally executed just after 11.30pm on Saturday night – moments after watching Paris Saint-Germain thrash Inter Milan 5-0 in the Champions League final.
Feared Glasgow underworld figures Ross Monaghan, 43, and Eddie Lyons Jnr, 46, of the Lyons crime family were sitting outside Monaghan’s Irish Bar – owned by Monaghan – when the hooded hitmen gunned them down,
The brazen Mafia-style hit has sent shockwaves through the local community and abroad internationally, triggering fears of a vicious gang war on the Costa del Sol not seen since the days of the Kinahans.
Terrified eyewitnesses described scenes of chaos as families with children fled the seafront area in panic.
“I thought that just like them, they were going to kill me too,” a retired neighbour who witnessed the shooting told local newspaper Malaga Hoy.
The pensioner, who lives metres from the scene, initially mistook the gunshots for fireworks: “It sounded like rockets, but they weren’t rockets, you could see it was from a shooting – it went ‘bang, bang, bang, bang!'”
Xiaowei, who owns a bazaar next to the pub, was unloading merchandise when the horror unfolded: “It was around 11.30pm when suddenly I heard a noise in the bar. I looked out and saw a guy pointing something and he fired.”
“Suddenly everyone came running out of the bar. A family walking by hid in my shop, just like me. I called the police from there and we stayed hidden until they arrived.”
The shopkeeper admitted being in shock: “I didn’t look at his face, or whether he was on a motorbike or in a car. I only remember seeing the weapon. I was in shock, I didn’t know how to react.”
Isabel Aribas, working at the Martín Playa beach bar opposite the Irish pub, initially thought the first shots were vehicle backfires.
“But then we heard more shots and everyone came running towards us. Families started coming in with their children, and we all crouched down.
“When you see everyone running, you think: ‘Well, those are gunshots.’ We were absolutely terrified. I was very frightened personally.”
She heard four or five shots in total before customers fled her establishment in terror.
According to Spanish police sources, a hooded gunman jumped from a vehicle and opened fire on the two men at point-blank range before escaping with an accomplice.
Both victims died from chest and abdominal wounds, while a third person was reportedly injured.
Malaga’s deputy government delegate Javier Salas confirmed both dead men were British citizens of Scottish origin.
High level sources have told the Olive Press that a Scottish gang war between rival crime families the Daniels and the Lyons has been raging for years.
But the horrific hit came after it was ordered at a summit of rival gang members in Kirkintilloch, near Glasgow, just days earlier, according to The Scottish Sun.
The Daniel crime family along with associates of jailed cocaine kingpin Mark Richardson allegedly plotted to eliminate the pair.
“The hitman got his orders after the meeting to take them both out,” a gangland insider told The Scottish Sun. “They knew that Monaghan and Lyons were a bit complacent and could be got at.”
The killings represent a deadly escalation in Scotland’s savage gang conflict, which has now gone international.
The violence stems from claims that Dubai-based former Rangers ultra Ross ‘Miami’ McGill was conned out of £500,000 in a cocaine deal involving fake banknotes.
McGill, 31, has been blamed for triggering weeks of retaliatory attacks across Scotland through a group called Tamu Junto, leading to over 40 arrests under Police Scotland’s Operation Portaledge.
Sources claim Steven Lyons, 44, was the intended primary target but escaped death as he was flying from Dubai to Spain when the assassins struck.
Spain-based Eddie Lyons Jnr had recently returned to Scotland for his 16-year-old daughter’s funeral after she died from long-term health problems.
Family sources said he appeared worried and told relatives he didn’t feel safe enough to return to Scotland permanently.
Meanwhile, the Lyons have been named as associates of notorious Irish mobsters the Kinahan cartel, who were the last mafia group to reign bloody mayhem on the Costa del Sol a decade ago.
Gangland experts predict the double execution will trigger a new wave of violence in both Scotland, Spain and beyond.
“This is going to cause an all-out war,” warned one underworld source.
“Whether it’s linked to the ongoing Scottish feud or another dispute, this is bound to lead to further violence.”
Ross Monaghan was previously acquitted of murder charges and had been running the Irish bar where he met his death, though sources say his name doesn’t appear on any official documents.
It has been reported that he has been a target for assassination before – once in 2017, when a team of hitmen targeted him near a Glasgow school but only succeeding in shooting him in the shoulder.
He was also acquitted of the attempted murder in 2012, and since his near miss in 2017 has preferred to spend his time on the Costa del Sol.
Spanish police set up roadblocks across the Costa del Sol hunting the killers but no arrests have been made. The investigation continues with authorities treating it as a drugs-related settling of scores.
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?On the left, Scotsman Ross Monaghan, and on the right, his compatriot Eddie Lyons Jr., were shot dead last night by a hitman at Monaghan’s Pub on the Fuengirola seafront, which the former owned. It happened after the Champions League and in front of dozens of people who witnessed the brutality of British criminal organizations.
This isn’t the first time Ross Monaghan has been shot dead. In 2017, a group of hitmen tried to kill him near a Glasgow school but only hit him in the shoulder. He was also acquitted of the attempted murder in 2012, and since 2017, he has been spending significant time on the Costa del Sol.
Scottish press, such as the Scottish Sun, has linked these two individuals to the Glasgow Lyons clan, a criminal organization that has been involved in a drug trafficking dispute in Scotland with the Daniels clan for two decades. In recent months, there have been several arson attacks and shootings in the Scottish capital, stemming from disputes between local organized crime groups.
?A la izquierda el escocés Ross Monaghan, a la derecha su compatriota Eddie Lyons Jr, fueron asesinados a tiros anoche por un sicario en el Pub Monaghans del paseo marítimo de Fuengirola que era propiedad del primero. Ocurrió después de la Champions y ante la mirada de decenas de personas que fueron testigos de la crudeza de las organizaciones criminales británicas.
A Ross Monaghan no es la primera vez que lo intentaban asesinar a tiros, en 2017 un grupo de sicarios intentó matarlo en los alrededores de un colegio de Glasgow pero sólo le dieron en el hombro. También en 2012 acabó absuelto de un intento asesinato del que le acusaba, y desde 2017 pasaba bastantes temporadas en la Costa del Sol.
La prensa escocesa como el Scottish Sun vincula a estas dos personas con el clan Lyons de Glasgow, una organización criminal que mantiene una disputa por el narcotráfico en Escocia con el clan Daniels desde hace dos décadas. En estos últimos meses han ocurrido varios ataques incendiarios y tiroteos en la capital escocesa fruto de las disputas del crimen organizado local.
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Double murder in Fuengirola: Scottish pair gunned down in suspected gangland hit
Article draft (300–350 words):
Two Scottish men were shot dead at close range in an Irish pub on the Fuengirola seafront on Saturday night in what police believe was a gangland-style execution linked to drug trafficking.
The victims were gunned down at point-blank range around 11.30pm inside the bar on Paseo Marítimo Rey de España. A third person was also injured in the attack. According to Spanish police, a hooded man jumped out of a vehicle and opened fire before fleeing the scene.
The victims, both believed to be of Scottish origin, died after sustaining bullet wounds to the chest and abdomen. A Spanish government delegate in Málaga, Javier Salas, confirmed their nationalities on Sunday.
Eyewitnesses described panic and chaos. “I thought I was going to be shot too,” one local resident told Málaga Hoy. “It sounded like fireworks but I realised it was gunfire – ‘pa, pa, pa, pa!’ – more than four shots.” Another neighbour reported seeing emergency workers trying to resuscitate one of the victims.
A local shopkeeper, who witnessed the shooting while unloading stock, said: “I saw a man pointing something and then he shot. Everyone ran out of the bar. A family even hid inside my shop.” He added that he was in shock and unable to react clearly.
Bar staff at a nearby chiringuito said customers and families ran for cover as the shots rang out. “We ducked down straight away,” one worker told Málaga Hoy. “At first it sounded like firecrackers, then we realised people were running. I was terrified.”
The Scottish Sun reported that police are treating the shooting as a targeted attack between rival criminal groups, although no arrests have been made and other motives have not been ruled out.
The double murder has stunned locals and comes amid rising concern about the presence of British and Irish criminal gangs along the Costa del Sol.
Police investigations are ongoing.
