Gerard Mackin: Kinahan cartel enforcer released on bail, plans to fight extradition

The 39-year-old, said to have links to the Kinahan cartel, was held on an Ireland-issued European Arrest Warrant on Monday during a routine police stop in the Costa Blanca resort of Torrevieja.

Mackin, wanted for alleged money laundering offences, appeared before a judge on Tuesday at a centralised court in Madrid which deals with all extraditions.

An official there confirmed on Wednesday morning: “He was presented in front of a duty judge and said he was opposing extradition.

“He was released on the condition he signs on at court every fortnight and he has been banned from leaving Spain.”

A well-placed source said after the short hearing, which for many fugitives arrested while on the run results in a remand in prison while the extradition request is processed even if they agree to be returned, added: “The decision on whether to bail them pending the final extradition decision always depends on many factors.

“They include the seriousness of the alleged crime, the flight risk and the links they have to Spain.”

Mackin, described as a close pal of Kinahan cartel killer Jonathan Keogh, was made the subject of an international arrest warrant last month after the Director of Public Prosecutions ruled there was enough evidence to charge him over a suspected money laundering scam.

It is understood the charge relates to an alleged money laundering network being run in Co Limerick in 2019.

The Civil Guard in Alicante confirmed he had been arrested around lunchtime on Monday by officers in a road called Avenida de Denia in Torrevieja just off the AP-7 motorway.

In the force’s first official comments on the detention a spokesman added: “The individual was asked to produce ID documents and when he handed them over and officers saw there was a European Arrest Warrant out for him, he was immediately held.

“He didn’t offer any resistance.”

Belfast-born Mackin was previously jailed for his role in a “deprived and barbaric” assault in which a 53-year-old man was nailed to a kitchen floor with a nail gun.

He was handed a three-year jail sentence at the Special Criminal Court for assaulting the man in Co Limerick in September 2015.

His arrest is not linked to the September 12 detention of alleged Kinahan cartel gangster Johnny Morrissey at a rented home near the Costa del Sol resort of Marbella in a separate money laundering probe.

Mackin is understood to have spent most of the last two years in Spain after fleeing Ireland following garda heat because of his faction’s involvement in the feud between the Hutch and Kinahan gangs in which they took the Kinahan side.

He was heavily involved in a dangerous organisation which became known as the ‘New INLA’ who were involved in hits for the Kinahan cartel.

Mackin’s decision to fight extradition means a separate hearing will now take place where a defence lawyer will put forward reasons why he should not be made to return to Ireland. It is expected to delay any extradition by several weeks if not months.