Gardaí are treating as serious reports that two Irishmen have been abducted in Spain. The two men, Shane Coates (31) and Stephen Sugg (27), are members of the "Westies" criminal gang, based in Blanchardstown, Dublin. Fears were growing for their safety last night.
"Obviously we are worried," Mr Christian Coates, brother of Shane Coates, told The Irish Times.
"The first we heard of it was in the papers. We are trying to find out if it is true or not; I can't really say anymore than that at this stage."
He declined to say if he would be travelling to Spain, but it is understood a number of friends and family members were planning to travel.
A man who answered the door at the Sugg family home in Corduff yesterday said the family had no news of the missing men. He declined to comment further.
The men were reportedly abducted from an apartment in Alicante, southern Spain, around 10 days ago.
Their abductors are believed to have used Coates's car to take the two men from the scene.
Gardaí are expected to make a formal request to the Spanish authorities via Interpol for information on the men. However, gardaí have not launched an investigation as no crime has been committed here.
One source said: "At the moment we have information that two men were abducted and driven away in Coates's car. The information suggests one was definitely Coates and the other probably Sugg, but we are less certain of that. We are treating this as a serious and genuine incident because we have no evidence to the contrary."
The same source said the most likely motive for any abduction was that the pair may have owed money to an international drugs gang in Spain.
