A MAJOR new police operation linked to the investigation into the gangland murder of Gary Hutch is underway in Spain.

Sources have confirmed gardaí have returned to Spain to assist with a number of searches and arrests.

The court probing Hutch’s September 2015 killing outside his flat in Miraflores near Fuengirola is understood to have placed a secrecy order on the new and ongoing operation, preventing public officials from releasing any information.

But a source confirmed this afternoon that a new operation was ongoing.

The insider said: “Three garda officers are present in Spain and a second operation stemming from September’s operation is ongoing on the Costa del Sol.

“Several premises are being searched and my understanding is arrests have taken place but I am not at liberty to say any more.”

Murder suspect James Quinn was held in Madrid in September in the presence of Irish officers and is currently in custody after being remanded in jail by a court in Fuengirola.

Police also raided the MGM gym in Puerto Banus which is linked to the Kinahan crime cartel as part of the earlier operation codenamed Operation Geranium, taking away cash and computers after using bolt-cutters to force their way in.

Feud

Hutch’s shocking murder sparked a bloody feud between the Kinahan and Hutch families in Dublin and Spain which had claimed more than a dozen lives.

In August innocent Irish holidaymaker Trevor O’Neill was killed in front of his family in a Majorcan holiday resort.

In February David Byrne was shot dead at Dublin’s Regency Hotel during the weigh-in of Jamie Kavanagh, the boxing pal of Daniel Kinahan, in a crime seen as retaliation for Gary Hutch’s murder.

Spanish Civil Guard officers also travelled to Ireland in September to take part in the cross-border operation that took place around the time of Quinn’s arrest and also saw searches carried out in Dublin.

Quinn, 34, the nephew of veteran Martin ‘The Viper’ Foley, has not been charged with any crime but is understood to have been declared an ‘investigado’ – a new legal term in Spain which literally means ‘under investigation’.

The probe into his alleged crime – coordinated by an investigating judge – will continue while he is held in prison.

The investigation is expected to last for at least several months.

Suspects under Spanish law can be held for a maximum of four years without charge – although a new application to continue holding them in custody has to be sought by officials after two years.

Read: A man has been arrested in Spain over the murder of Gary Hutch>