From: IslandConnections.EU
Two former members of the IRA with convictions for bombings in the 1980s have been arrested in Lanzarote for their part in a massive international tobacco and alcohol smuggling operation. Leonard Hardy and Donna Maguire, both in their 50s, were detained at a hotel on the island as they enjoyed a post-Christmas holiday.
By Karl McLaughlin
Lanzarote – 05.01.2015 – The couple, who have four children, are believed to be key players in an international ring responsible for smuggling massive quantities of tobacco products and alcohol to Britain and Ireland, where police intercepted a lorry carrying over 4 million euros worth of cigarettes more than a year ago but failed to arrest the ringleaders of the operation. A painstaking investigation led Spanish and Irish police, together with HMRC in the UK, to the two former IRA members, who achieved notoriety in the 1980s with the bombings of British military bases in Europe. Maguire, a prominent member of an IRA hit squad on the continent, was described as “the most dangerous woman in Europe” at the time of her arrest back in the mid-90s.
