The operation that led to the downfall of the Lyons clan on the Costa del Sol has its roots in the arrest of Johnny Morrissey, a financier linked to the Kinahan cartel, which occurred in Marbella four years ago. Spanish police sources have confirmed that the investigations leading to Morrissey's arrest and the subsequent 14 arrests across four countries last week are “intrinsically linked”.

Morrissey, 66, an Irish passport holder born in the UK, was arrested on September 12, 2022, in an apartment near Marbella. His wife, Nicola, was also taken at the same time. He is accused of having built a criminal empire on the Costa del Sol over two decades. Six months before his arrest, the US Treasury had named him as one of seven key members of the Kinahan cartel, designating him as a former enforcer who had graduated to organizing international drug shipments from South America and laundering the proceeds.

Investigators believe Morrissey helped criminal organizations launder up to €350,000 a day over 18 months, using a company called Nero Drinks—a Glasgow-registered vodka brand run in his wife Nicola's name—as cover. The money was passed through the informal hawala transfer system, a trust-based network of brokers operating outside conventional banking. The US Treasury, which sanctioned Nero Drinks in April 2022, alleged Morrissey had given a significant stake in the business to cartel head Daniel Kinahan as compensation for seized drug shipments, with Nicola acting as a “frontperson for his interests”.

When Guardia Civil officers raided the couple’s Mijas apartment in 2022, they also found notebooks recording hundreds of cash transactions with dozens of local businesses. These records were transferred to Madrid, where investigators said they would “spawn many more arrests.” However, sources close to the case now indicate that Morrissey was not simply the Kinahans’ banker, but also allegedly assisted others, including Steven Lyons. “Morrissey and Steven Lyons relied on each other’s services,” a source added, a relationship that would prove crucial for the operation against the Lyons.

The Guardia Civil last week described the Lyons clan as a “highly sophisticated criminal organization characterized by violence” when announcing the results of Operation Armorum, which was three years in the making. Lyons was arrested in Bali two weeks ago, transferred to the Netherlands, and detained in Amsterdam under a European Arrest Warrant issued by Spanish authorities. His wife, Amanda, 38, was taken at Dubai airport. In total, 14 people were arrested across Spain, Scotland, Indonesia, and the United Arab Emirates. Eighteen property searches were carried out in Spain, concentrated in Fuengirola and Mijas on the Costa del Sol and in Barcelona, with investigators seizing cash, electronic devices, luxury watches, and cryptocurrency wallets. Police estimate the clan laundered more than €30 million through front companies, including a food and drinks firm and a car rental business.

Both operations were made possible in large part by EncroChat, the encrypted communications platform infiltrated by European law enforcement between March and June 2020. Real-time access to messages exchanged on the platform gave investigators a window into the operational and financial structures of multiple criminal organizations, and the intelligence gathered proved decisive in both Whitewall and Armorum. Lyons now faces extradition to Spain to appear before a judge in Málaga on suspicion of money laundering and membership of a criminal organization.