COPS suspect Gerry ‘The Monk’ Hutch made millions smuggling illegal cigs into Dublin.
He is thought to have bought 14 houses and flats in Lanzarote over several years.
Hutch maintains he is innocent — claiming his money comes from legitimate means.
He spent the weekend jailed on the Spanish isle after being nicked with several business contacts.
Most of the properties he bought were raided and searched as part of a two-year undercover operation by Spanish police.
He is expected to go back to the courts today and make a new bail application.
If the judge refuses to free him Hutch could remain behind bars for at least a year while investigators decide whether to charge him.
A Spanish source said: “We were watching Gerry Hutch all the time he was in Lanzarote on and off for the past two years.
“He had meetings with people, some of whom we know had connections with cigarette smuggling.
“We’re trying to find out where this money comes from.”
Cigarette smuggling in Ireland is worth almost €1billion a year — covering one in five packets sold on the black market.
A Garda source said: “Cigarette smuggling is now nearly as big as drugs.”
Hutch has mainly lived in Lanzarote since he was cleared of the Regency Hotel murder of David Byrne by the Special Criminal Court in April last year.
Suspect jailed in probe is named
By Gerard Couzens
THE second of the two suspects sent to prison following the arrest of Gerry ‘The Monk’ Hutch and eight other people being investigated over an alleged organised crime money laundering scam has been named locally as Neil F.
The expat, believed to be British and identified only by his first name and the initial of his surname.
Spanish authorities have confirmed the “two alleged ringleaders” were remanded in jail but have refused to say who they are.
They also said in a statement on Friday after behind-closed-doors court hearings that seven of the nine suspects were released on conditional bail.
The two people incarcerated are expected to make bail applications in the coming weeks, although overnight reports said they may try to seek a release as early as tomorrow.
They are being held at Tahiche Penitentiary in Lanzarote, which has refused to comment on Hutch and the other suspect behind bars there.
Meanwhile, Hutch was warned about the dangers of entering politics amid reports he is pondering a run in Dublin Central in the general election — the same area as Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald.
Cllr Mannix Flynn reacted saying: “You’ll get your throat slit ten times quicker in politics than anything associated with The Godfather.”
He told us: “Dail Eireann since it began has been full of people regarded as enemies of the State and threats to national security so Mr Hutch fits the bill.
“It’s fine if he wants to change his ways, but the Dail isn’t a rehabilitation institute.”
NO DETERRENT
And the Independent councillor, 67, said Hutch’s home being raided by cops recently would not deter inner city Dubliners from backing the 61-year-old’s potential run for the Dail.
Mannix told The Irish Sun: “This is a person who despite all the publicity is seen as a likeable rogue in his own community. Gardai raiding his home is not a conviction.
“I think in the inner city, there would be a fair amount of support for the Hutch family. I think there are a lot of voters p****d off with the State. They would see a vote for Hutch as a rather extreme protest vote.”