WATCH: Dramatic moment Spanish police raided crime boss John Gilligan’s villa and seized revolver and stash of drugs

Crime boss John Gilligan has been arrested during a dramatic raid of a property in Alicante, Spain this morning.

Spanish police found a revolver buried in the garden of the house, which Spanish Police describe as being “of the same make and model as the one used in the murder of a journalist that took place in Dublin in 1996 and whose possible relationship is being investigated.”

The raid also led to the discovery of a haul of drugs, including cannabis and prescription tablets that were ready to be shipped.

Gilligan,(68) has been arrested on suspicion of running a drug smuggling ring which was unearthed on the back of an investigation by a number of police agencies across Europe including Spain’s Polica Nacional, An Garda Síochána, the PSNI, and the National Crime Agency in the UK.

It is reported that four kilos of cannabis and 15,000 prescription tablets were discovered, along with the gun at that location. While a further 11,000 tablets and four more kilos of cannabis during searches at four other locations nearby.

A statement released by Spain’s Polica Nacional said: “There are six arrested in Alicante and four packages containing 4 kilos of marijuana and 15,000 pills have been intercepted, to which are added another four kilos of buds and 11,000 more pills located in the records

A revolver has also been found buried in a garden, 

“Those arrested, led by a well-known Irish criminal, were part of a violent group of drug and arms traffickers and specialised in sending illegal merchandise from Spain to the United Kingdom and Ireland through parcels,” they concluded.

Images and Video courtesy of Polica Nacional, Spain