A SERIES of seasoned Costa del Sol characters were among those swept up during police raids that brought down the notorious Lyons organised crime gang.
In the early hours of March 27, helicopters circled over the coast as police raided 18 properties in Mijas and Calahonda, with a few in Barcelona.
New dramatic footage released by the Guardia Civil shows heavily-armed police smashing down doors with battering rams.
They searched various properties seizing large amounts of cash, high-end luxury wallets, various company documents relating to the Scottish Lyons clan and cryptocurrency wallets.
In total 14 people – most of them expats – were arrested with connections to the gang.
The Olive Press understands that one of the arrested has been identified as Calahonda resident Ian Hollis.
Long time pub owner Hollis, 64, who hails from Newcastle but has lived on the Costa del Sol for 20 years, was briefly taken into custody.
He formerly ran popular local Calahonda pubs, including Our Bar.
Another of those arrested is understood to be a British expat who has lived and run bars around the El Zoco area of Calahonda for a decade.
It is understood that they have both been released pending further inquiries.
The series of raids was part of operation ‘Armorum’ which involved collaboration from Scottish, Indonesian and Spanish authorities.
Among those arrested was the boss Steven Lyons, who was lifted the following day in Indonesia.
The intelligence uncovered by the raids in Spain is thought to have been central in tracking down the kingpin who was arrested by the authorities in Bali.
The process to extradite Lyons to Spain, where he is wanted for money laundering of at least €30 million, is now underway.
Infamous for its violence and wealth, the ‘Lyons Clan’ was established in Glasgow in the 1990s and transformed from a family crime group into a transnational criminal organisation with branches in Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
Following a Glasgow shoot out, in which Steven Lyons’ cousin, Michael Lyons, was killed, Lyons and his cronies set up shop on the Costa del Sol.
The gang developed a complex network of shell companies across Spain and the Middle East and fostered alliances with other major gangs, including the infamous Irish Kinahan Cartel, to become a key player in European organised crime.
READ MORE: Major Scottish gangland figures linked to horror double shooting in Fuengirola arrested in Dubai
Lyons later relocated to Dubai, along with Kinahan Cartel boss Daniel Kinahan, brother Christopher and father Christie, but the gang retained a foothold on the Costa del Sol.
In May last year, a brazen shooting at Monaghan’s Irish Bar on Fuengirola’s beachfront killed Lyons’ brother Eddie Lyons Jnr and bar-owner Ross Monaghan, making international news.
Liverpudlian Michael Riley, who the Guardia Civil believe is a member of rival gang, the Daniel group, is currently imprisoned in Malaga, following the executions.
Since then, pressure has ramped up on both the Scottish and Spanish authorities to dismantle the Lyons Clan’s operations and the spread of Glasgow’s gangland wars to the Costa del Sol.
With Operation Amorum, Spanish authorities say they have indeed ‘dismantled’ the Lyons Clan with this series of raids and arrests.
It remains to be seen whether the operation has put a stop to the Lyons’ Clans operations across the Costa del Sol and beyond.
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