A BRITISH man living a quiet expat life in the heart of Barcelona’s old town has been exposed as a senior leader of one of Europe’s most violent criminal organisations.
Guardia Civil officers raided his home on March 27 as part of a sweeping international operation against Glasgow’s Lyons crime family.
It resulted in 14 arrests across Spain, Scotland, Indonesia and the United Arab Emirates, with a further 20 individuals under investigation on the Costa del Sol.
The Barcelona raid took place on Carrer de Jaume I in the heart of the Gothic quarter Vella, just steps from Plaça de Sant Jaume.
But when officers from the Guardia Civil’s elite Unidad Central Operativa (UCO) arrived at the address, the target had vanished.
The suspect had reportedly been living a ‘quiet but active’ life, blending into a neighbourhood populated by tourists, locals and foreign residents.
Neighbours had no idea who was living in their midst, according to Spanish crime publication ElCaso, which first reported the Barcelona connection.
UCO sources confirmed that the man was one of the organisation’s leaders, running criminal operations and a network of shell companies from his Barcelona base — all while maintaining a low profile among the gothic quarter’s foreign community.
The unnamed fugitive’s whereabouts remain unknown, with Guardia Civil sources admitting they do not know whether he fled along with Steven Lyons and his wife Amanda to Indonesia, or separately.
The raid was part of Operation Armorum, a three-year investigation that dismantled the Lyons Clan’s operations across Spain and beyond.
The operation resulted in 14 arrests across Spain, Scotland, Indonesia and the United Arab Emirates, with a further 20 individuals under investigation on the Costa del Sol.
Among those arrested was the clan’s leader, Steven Lyons, captured on arrival in Bali on March 28 and paraded in front of the cameras by Indonesian immigration officials.
He was subsequently transferred to the Netherlands under a European Arrest Warrant issued by Spanish authorities.
He is now awaiting extradition to Spain, where he will face trial on money laundering charges at the National Court in Madrid.
The Lyons clan originated in the Glasgow suburbs in the 1990s and has since grown into a global criminal network operating across Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
Its activities include narcotrafficking, money laundering and extreme violence.
The organisation has documented links to the infamous Kinahan Clan, an Irish organised crime group based on the Costa del Sol 15 years ago.
The Lyons’ presence in Spain hit the headlines when the Steven Lyon’s brother, Eddie Lyons Jr and associated Ross Monaghan were shot dead at beachfront bar Monaghan’s in Fuengirola in May last year.
Investigators say the organisation laundered millions through shell companies operating under the cover of alcohol export businesses.
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