Costa del crime: The inside tale of how a 2am trip to a Marbella strip club led to the arrest of one of the UK’s most wanted cocaine dealers

NOTRIOUS Liverpool cocaine dealer Dominic McInally was arrested at a Marbella strip club after six years on the run. 

Merseyside Police launched an investigation into McInally in 2014 after officers discovered six kilograms of cocaine hidden in a secret compartment of a car parked in Crosby, a suburb of Liverpool.

McInally remained on the run until the the early hours of the morning on 28 February 2020 when he was arrested at Marbella’s Casa Masa stripclub. 

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The Class A drug had a purity of 75%, and investigators believed it was set to be increased to 25kg using bulking agents before being divided for street-level distribution.

McInally was considered the head of a large cocaine gang that could earn as much as £1?million each month.

Five men were arrested and sentenced to a combined 48 years in prison. 

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However, the 25-year-old McInally avoided justice by fleeing the country the day after his fellow gang members were arrested.

A European arrest warrant for McInally was immediately issued and he became one of Merseyside’s most wanted fugitives. 

Authorities suspected he was hiding out in the Costa del Sol.

His mugshot was plastered onto a van which was driven around southern Spain’s tourist hotspots, in the hope someone might recognise him. 

Merseyside Police worked in-tandem with Spanish authorities to trace McInally and he was featured in Operation Captura, which targets British criminals hiding out in Spain. 

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Eventually, his six years on the run came to an end in a bust at Marbella stripclub, Casa Masa.

The raid was coordinated by the Policia Nacional, the National Crime Agency and Merseyside Police. 

McInally was extradited to the UK and went on trial for conspiracy to supply cocaine at Liverpool Crown Court. 

Despite attempting to distance himself from the gang, he could not explain £35,000 in cash discovered in biscuit tins beneath his parents’ floorboards.

He was sentenced to 12 years in prison.

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