8 hours ago
Scots cops deny Spanish force claims of ‘Daniel clan link' to Monaghan and Lyons murders
Spanish top brass insist the suspect in the double killing is 'an internal member of the rival Daniels gang'
AT ODDS SQUADS Scots cops deny Spanish force claims of 'Daniel clan link' to Monaghan and Lyons murders
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SCOTTISH cops are standing by their assertion the murders of Ross Monaghan and Eddie Lyons Jnr are unconnected to gangland violence here - hours after Spanish investigators said the opposite.
Police Scotland issued a statement hours after a press conference in Malaga during which top brass insisted the suspect in the double killing is "an internal member of the rival Daniels gang".
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The moment caught on CCTV a shooter storms Monaghans bar in Fuengirola.
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Murdered crime clan duo Eddie Lyons Jnr and Ross Monaghan.
The stunning claims made this morning by investigators in Spain appeared to be in direct conflict with an earlier statement by Scots cops that they had 'no intelligence" to indicate the plot was hatched here.
The murders of the two Lyons gang kingpins in Monaghan's Bar, Fuengirola, on Saturday, May 31, came after months of gangland violence across Scotland's two biggest cities.
The chaos has been blamed by underworld sources on Dubai-based Ross 'Miami' McGill whose group Tamu Junto has claimed responsibility for targeting associates of caged Edinburgh kingpin Mark Richardson, 38, and members of the Daniel crime family.
That resulted in fears the brutal assassinations of Monaghan, 43, and Lyons, 46, was an act of retaliation by mobsters with Daniel clan connections.
But we told how Police Scotland and a relatives of Monaghan had ruled out that theory amid claims the execution was carried out by another mob not connected to Scotland.
In a statement issued this evening, Assistant Chief Constable Stuart Houston said : "We have been assisting Spanish colleagues with their investigation into the fatal shootings in Fuengirola.
"We are not aware of any current evidence which suggests the deaths of these two men in Spain are linked to the recent criminal attacks in Scotland being investigated as part of Operation Portaledge.
"We are aware of the statement from the Spanish Police and although we cannot comment on an ongoing investigation in another jurisdiction, our position remains that we have no current evidence to suggest that this incident was orchestrated from Scotland.
"We are aware of the arrest of an individual in the Merseyside area and will continue to support colleagues in Spain where necessary and if required by them. "
However, Spanish investigators today stated with some conviction a Daniel clan associate was their number one suspect.
We told earlier how Mr Pedro Agudo Novo - head of the provincial Judicial Police unit - said: 'The double murder was carried out by a professional killer and member of one of the victims' rival gangs.
'In this case we're not talking about an independent hired killer but an internal member of the rival Daniels gang who ends up assassinating two members of an enemy gang."
The Scottish Sun then put those comments to Police Scotland who today stood firmly behind their earlier stance that the killings are not the work of a Scots-based mob.
We told how suspect Michael Riley, 44, from Merseyside, was arrested in Liverpool on Friday before appearing at Westminster Magistrates Court on Saturday.
Ross Monaghan - From Glasgow street thug to running with Global cartel bosses
The double-murder suspect was remanded in custody during the brief hearing.
Lawyers acting for Riley didn't make a bail application ahead of a second court date on Thursday when the alleged hitman is due to appear via video link.
The court heard Riley was 'likely to abscond' if given his liberty while facing such grave allegations.
The serious nature of the offences he faces was noted in the decision to remand Riley who is the subject of an extradition warrant by Spanish authorities over the murders of the Scots duo.
Career criminal Monaghan - who fled Scotland for Spain after a failed attempt on his life in 2017 - was tried but acquitted over the murder of notorious Glasgow hood Kevin 'Gerbil' Carroll at an Asda car park in 2010.
In August 2017 he and Eddie Lyons Jr, both members of the Lyons Glasgow crime family, were cleared of being involved in a brutal street attack on three men outside the Campsie bar in Bishopbriggs, East Dunbartonshire.
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Associates of caged mob boss Mark Richardson have been under attack since March.
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Ross 'Miami' McGill has been waging a gang war over claims of a drug deal con.
Their deaths come amid an ongoing turf war in Scotland that's resulted in 45 arrests as part of Police Scotland's Operation Portaledge.
Dubai-based former Union Bear McGill, 31, of East Kilbride, is said to have launched the campaign of violence after he was ripped off by associates of Richardson who used fake notes in a £500,000 cocaine deal.
