Hutch was one of nine people to appear in a court in Arrecife, Lanzarote, Spain alleged to be members of a gang of international criminals, who are being investigated as “alleged perpetrators of crimes of money laundering committed within the scope of a criminal organisation,” a statement from the judiciary confirmed this evening.
Two of the nine people, one being Mr Hutch, alleged to be the “leaders” of the gang have been remanded in custody while seven others have been charged and released on bail under conditions set by the court.
“The investigating magistrate has ordered the incarceration on remand, without bail of its two leaders and has ordered the provisional release with charges and precautionary measures for the other seven,” the press office said.
“The investigation continues, it is not closed, and the proceedings are declared secret,” the office said.
Among the others who appeared in court for money laundering offences include a close relative of Hutch.
Hutch (61) was arrested on Wednesday as part of a joint investigation by the Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigations (GNBCI) and the Guardia Civil in Spain.
Gardaí searched Hutch’s family home in Clontarf, north Dublin, as part of the investigation, while the Guardia Civil carried out 10 searches in Spain.
An officer from the Guardia Civil was present at the search in Dublin, while officers from the Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation (GNBCI) accompanied Spanish police during searches there.
Reports in the Canary Islands say around 50 officers from Tenerife and Aragon, in mainland Spain, targeted several locations in Arrecife as well as Puerto del Carmen and Playa Blanca.
Three vehicles were said to have been immobilised near the five-star Arrecife Gran Hotel & Spa at around 7am on Wednesday.
The investigation into money laundering across several countries by the Hutch Organised Crime Group has been ongoing for more than two years.
A previous search targeting the group was conducted in Lanzarote in June 2022 by the Guardia Civil on behalf of the GNBCI.
The Lanzarote property targeted on that occasion was the home where Hutch had been living in the years before the outbreak of the Hutch-Kinahan feud.
The two-year operation has been focussed on the movements of large sums of money and the a number of properties in Spain that have been purchased.
Hutch was cleared of the murder charge of Kinahan cartel gangster David Byrne at the Regency Hotel in February 2016 by the Special Criminal Court in April last year and has been living between Dublin and Lanzarote since.
