A BAND of infamous Scottish gangland figures with hyperlinks to mafia exercise on the Costa del Sol have been arrested in Dubai.
Steven Lyons, Ross McGill, Stephen Jamieson and Steven Larwood had been detained by Dubai Police on September 17 following intelligence shared with detectives in Scotland.
The arrests come simply months after a surprising double killing on the Costa del Sol.
In May, Lyons’ brother, Eddie Lyons Jnr, and affiliate Ross Monaghan had been gunned down by a lone shooter at a beachfront bar in Fuengirola after watching the Champions League closing.
The murders shook the resort city and positioned renewed concentrate on Scotland’s long-running underworld feud, which has stretched from Glasgow to Spain.
Spanish police have accused Michael Riley, 44, from Liverpool, of finishing up the Fuengirola killings, with an extradition listening to anticipated later this yr.
At the time, investigators steered he might have hyperlinks to the rival Daniel clan, though Police Scotland has insisted there isn’t any proof the murders had been ordered from Scotland.
READ MORE: Suspect arrested in Liverpool over capturing of two Scottish gangsters on the Costa del Sol
Steven Lyons is the top of the Lyons crime group, locked in a bloody dispute with the Daniels for greater than twenty years.
In 2006 he survived a capturing at a Glasgow storage that killed his cousin, Michael Lyons. He later based mostly himself in Spain earlier than shifting on to Dubai, the place different associates additionally relocated.
McGill, as soon as a senior member of Rangers ultras group the Union Bears, has extra lately been accused of enjoying a central function within the feud that has led to shootings, firebombings and assaults throughout Scotland since March.
Larwood is described as a detailed Lyons ally who beforehand lived in Spain, whereas Jamieson has connections to Jamie ‘Iceman’ Stevenson, jailed final yr for plotting to smuggle €100m of cocaine from South America in banana shipments.
Operation Portaledge, launched by Police Scotland in response to the escalating violence, has already seen 57 arrests.
But sources informed the BBC that the detention of Lyons and his associates in Dubai marks a turning level. “All 4 are working on the highest degree of organised crime, each at a UK and a world degree,” one insider mentioned.
It isn’t but clear whether or not costs might be filed within the UAE or whether or not extradition to Scotland might be sought. Police Scotland has thus far declined to remark, whereas Dubai authorities have referred queries to the UK Embassy.
The arrests underline the Costa del Sol’s enduring function as a haven and battleground for northern European crime teams – and the worldwide scale of the violence they depart of their wake.
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