Searches at six homes in Marbella and Mijas uncovered two firearms: an AK-47 and a submachine gun. Officers also found €61,500 in cash and almost 38 kilos of hashish. Police arrested five people in connection with the disappearance of Darren Hoolahan, including the suspected leader of the Kinahan clan on the Costa del Sol. The operation also led to the seizure of eight vehicles. Spanish police later described the firearms as military-grade.
Investigators believe Hoolahan and the five suspects were linked to the Irish criminal group. Four of the suspects are Irish nationals; the fifth is British. Four suspects were remanded in custody without bail by Marbella Court Number Four, pending further investigation. The fifth was initially granted conditional bail, then immediately rearrested under an international warrant issued by Spain’s Audiencia Nacional in an unrelated case. The provisional allegations include unlawful detention and membership of a criminal organisation, along with weapons offences. They also include public-health offences, including alleged drug trafficking. The suspects have not been convicted.
Hoolahan, the brother of former Republic of Ireland international and Premier League footballer Wes Hoolahan, disappeared on 10 June after meeting an acquaintance at a café in San Pedro Alcántara, Marbella. CCTV footage showed the pair driving towards Estepona. There, Hoolahan was forced into another vehicle and taken to a house on a rural mountain property. The man he met was among those later arrested. The suspects appeared before Examining Magistrate’s Court Number Four on 28 October, after being arrested the previous day.
His wife reported him missing the following day. There was no ransom demand or other contact with the family. Police searched the area for human remains but found none; they later found the car used to transport him burned. Spanish police fear Hoolahan may have been murdered, although no body has been found. A month before the disappearance, several vehicles outside his home had also been set alight by hooded men. A separate Madrid taxi report concerned a seat-belt penalty, not a criminal investigation.
Police suspect the disappearance was connected to a dispute over money moved by the group, although they have not established a specific motive. The Kinahan organisation has been associated with drug trafficking and other offences. Spanish and British media have linked the investigation to the network, but that reported connection does not establish responsibility for Hoolahan’s disappearance. In 2015, the group was considered responsible for the killing in Mijas of Gary Hutch, a former associate who belonged to a rival gang. The ensuing clan conflict included an armed attack at Dublin’s Regency hotel, where David Byrne was killed during a boxing weigh-in. About ten people were killed across Ireland and the United Kingdom, as well as Málaga and the Balearic Islands.
In 2018, the Irish High Court accepted Garda evidence describing the Kinahan Organised Crime Group as an international crime group and alleging that Daniel Kinahan controlled its drug operations; his lawyer denied the allegations. Police operations against the clan have continued over the years. In 2022, four people suspected of running a money-laundering network for the group were arrested. Investigators said the network could have returned more than €200 million to the legal market in just over 12 months. In the Hoolahan case, officers also seized eight vehicles. The five arrested face allegations including illegal possession of firearms and vehicle theft. They are also accused of possessing weapons of war.
