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Irish pub owner threatened to call cops on Liam Byrne and pals day before arrest

“The group didn’t want to pay. I threatened to call the police and he did pay”

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The owner of an Irish bar in Mallorca said he threatened to call the police including on a group including Liam Byrne the night before his arrest on the Spanish island last weekend.

Byrne was arrested in a restaurant in the town of Alcudia as he dined with two of his young children last Sunday on foot of a warrant to face gangland charges in the UK related to the Encrochat hack.

He had flown into Palma in Mallorca on May 26 on a false passport from the United Arab Emirates where he moved in recent years.

After his arrival on the island Spanish police tracked him down to Alcudia where armed police arrested him last weekend.

The Sunday World previously revealed Byrne’s links to Alcudia back in 2016 when we reported that he and other cartel members had been staying in a villas linked to his brother-in-law Thomas ‘Bomber’ Kavanagh.

Byrne was with two of his kids when he was arrested in a restaurant in the area last Sunday.

However, the owner of another bar and restaurant, O’Malley’s, said a man he believes was Byrne was part of a much larger group who caused hassle in his establishment the night before his arrest.

“He was here the day before,” the owner told the Sunday World.

He said other people in the group had been causing hassle and didn’t want to pay.

“The group didn’t want to pay. I threatened to call the police and he did pay. There was about 20 of them and they tried to cause trouble. When I mentioned the police, they went quiet.”

He said he had no idea who Byrne was at the time and only found out afterwards. “I didn’t know who he was and in fact I’m glad I didn’t know. He might be [well-known] in his country but here in Spain he is just another tourist.”

He said he didn’t contact the police in relation to the incident as the bill was paid in the end.

“I didn’t know who they were and said what’s wrong with the bill? There was a lot of hassle but finally I got paid and that was that.”

The Sunday World revealed Byrne’s links to Alcudia seven years ago when the Kinahan-Hutch feud was at its peak.

We revealed how Byrne and other cartel associates were spotted in Alcudia and would travel around in Range Rovers in convoy and travel to the nearby island of Ibiza for weekend parties.

We also revealed how Byrne had been in the area the same week that innocent council worker Trevor O’Neill who was shot dead on another part of the island by a cartel gunman in a case of mistaken identity.

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Senior Kinahan Lieutenant Liam Byrne arrested in Spain

The hitman, who gardai believe was Cabra criminal Glen Clarke, had been hired to target Jonathan Hutch who was also in Mallorca at the time but shot the wrong man in the attack in Costa de la Calma on August 17, 2016.

Clarke suffered a fatal gunshot wound in a car in Leixlip, Co. Kildare, in December 2016. His inquest heard he may have shot himself in the head while looking down the barrel but his family believe he was murdered. The weapon used in his death was never found.

Spanish newspaper Diario de Mallorca reported this week that while local police established Byrne was on the island the week Mr O’Neill was murdered they had no evidence to link him to ordering the hit.

Kavanagh was also present on the island at the time and is suspected along with cartel associate Peader Keating of arranging for Clarke to travel out for the hit.