Police on the Costa del Sol are hunting three men in connection with the murder of an Irish man who died in a hail of bullets in the resort of Benalmadena on Saturday night.
Spanish Interior Ministry official Hilario López said today that the killing of Richard Keogh from Duleek had all the hallmarks of a gangland execution although he stressed that 'all lines of enquiry remain open at this stage'.
Señor López revealed that Keogh was shot eight times as he tried to flee from his killers, who pulled up beside him in a car as he left a nearby bar. Police spent most of today examining a Honda Civic car believed to have been used in the attack.
The car, which was stolen back in October, was found approximately 200 metres from the scene of the late-night shooting.
A man interviewed by police who was with Keogh shortly before he died was subsequently arrested after it was
discovered that an arrest warrant had been issued for him for drug-trafficking offences. Although local media initially reported the man was from Ireland, he is believed to be from South America.
In a separate development, the mayor of Benalmadena, Javier Carnero, has requested an urgent meeting with senior law enforcement officials to discuss the Keogh killing and the rising crime levels in the area, which is visited by thousands of Irish and British tourists every year.
Keogh, a father of four children aged between two and nine years, was walking along a footpath with this wife at about 11.35pm on Saturday when a car pulled up and at least one occupant opened fire.
Keogh collapsed on the pavement outside the Torrequebrada Hotel.
Police sources in Malaga say gloves and a spent pistol magazine were found on the passenger seat of the car, which the occupants tried to set alight before making off.
The dead man is originally from Carnlough Road, Cabra, but in recent years had settled with his family in the Belfry estate, Duleek, Co Meath.
On November 2nd, 2007, Keogh was putting his bin out for collection when a gunman fired at least five shots at him as his wife and two-year-old son looked on. He was wounded in the shoulder and arm but managed to run back into the safety of his home.
His attacker tried to run into the house but Keogh’s partner slammed the door shut as a number of bullets hit the house.
Shortly after the murder attempt, Keogh put his five bedroom detached property up for sale and moved with his partner and children to southern Spain.
Keogh has been a target of the Garda National Drug Unit for a number of years as part of Operation Rugby and Operation Banish. He was associated with a man from Cabra who was a member of an international gang caught with cocaine valued at €400 million off the coast of Spain a number of years ago.