Gerard 'The Monk' Hutch's Dublin home searched by gardaí

Gardaí have searched the Dublin home of Gerard Hutch, the man known as 'The Monk', as part of an international investigation into money laundering.

Ten searches were also carried out in Spain.

Officers from the Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation are in Spain, while a member of the Guardia Civil accompanied gardaí during their operation.

No arrests have been made in Ireland, but it is understood a number of people have been detained in Spain.

This investigation into money laundering across several countries by the Hutch Organised Crime Group has been ongoing for more than two years.

This morning, eleven searches took place in Spain and Ireland.

The Guardia Civil carried out ten searches in a number of locations, including in Lanzarote.

In Ireland, officers from the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation, supported by the armed Emergency Response Unit and the Criminal Assets Bureau, searched Gerard Hutch's house in Dublin.

The search follows an international letter of request and mutual assistance from the Spanish authorities

A Spanish officer was present at the search in Dublin, while gardaí are in Spain working with the Guardia Civil.

Gardaí say today’s operation is part of ongoing liaison between the Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation and Guardia Civil in Spain, targeting a Transnational Organised Crime Group located both in Ireland and Spain.

At least two Irish men in Spain have been identified as targets there.

A previous search targeting the group was conducted in Lanzarote in June 2022 by Guardia Civil on behalf of the NBCI.

It is believed that a number of people have also been detained in Spain.

The Guardia Civil said in a statement that the investigation is ongoing and it is unable to give further information at this time because of a "secrecy order" in Spain.

Former Assistant Garda Commissioner Michael O'Sullivan said that the operations against the Hutch and Kinahan crime groups have been "very significant".

Speaking on RTÉ's Six One News, Mr O'Sullivan said an awful lot of work has gone into the operation which involved ten searches.

He said: "When you see an operation running in two countries simultaneously, an awful lot of work goes into it and I understand it's a two-year long operation with ten searches. It's very very significant and very targeted.

"There's a massive amount of work and logistics, and inquiries and investigations that go into all of those money laundering operations, so it’s a very very significant development."

Mr O'Sullivan said the Hutch organised crime group pales in significance when compared with the global reach and wealth of resources which the Kinahan crime group has acquired.

Hutch crime group

The Hutch organised crime group is one of the two violent transnational drug dealing gangs based in Dublin that has been involved in the ongoing feud with the Kinahan organised crime group for the past nine years.

Garda evidence on the structure and operations of the Hutch Organised Crime Group has been accepted by the Special Criminal Court.

A senior drugs and organised crime investigator said the gang is predominantly from Dublin city centre and built on intergenerational family bonds.

Detective Superintendent David Gallagher said the organised crime group is less hierarchical than some criminal organisations and operates a patriarchal system based on loyalty and monetary gain.

Historically, he said it is quite a fluid organisation whose associates and affiliates work together, independently and with other criminal organisations to commit crime.

Its rules and procedures like those of other organised crime groups are "not set in stone".

However, he said that since 2015 and the emergence of the feud, there has been a "galvanisation" of positions within the Hutch organised crime group.

Gary Hutch was shot dead in Spain in 2015, which led to the retaliatory murder of Kinahan gang member David Byrne at the Regency Hotel in February 2016.

Gerard Hutch was also named as the head of the Hutch family in the Special Criminal Court, which found him not guilty of the murder of David Byrne.

However, that murder led to a dramatic escalation in the Hutch-Kinahan feud and as a result, so far 18 people have been shot dead in Ireland and Spain.