The Lyons clan kept images of their brutal score-settling on the Costa del Sol. On March 27, the Civil Guard found nearly 200 photographs of beaten or mutilated people during a search of an apartment where members of this dangerous Scottish criminal organization used to meet in Fuengirola (Málaga). The snapshots, which they kept printed in considerable sizes, show a man with black curly hair and a face full of bruises, another, also beaten and with cuts on his face, or details of a young man’s back, focusing on two deep incisions, at the height of the left clavicle. Other scenes, of great brutality, portray a man with his arm impaled on the pointed part of a fence, in the middle of the street, or machinery in which human remains can be discerned. Investigators will now have to identify those who appear in these images and determine where and when these beatings and aggressions occurred.
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Criminal groups often use violence to defend their position against rival groups, although it also serves to resolve disputes, project an image of power, or even keep their ranks tight. Paolo Campana, one of the leading scholars of organized crime in the United Kingdom, addresses all these uses in an article he published with researchers Cecilia Meneghini, Alyssa Knisley, in 2025, in the journal The British Journal of Criminology.
The Lyons are known for the violence with which they defended their position in large-scale drug trafficking in the Scottish city of Glasgow, but in Spain, they had built an almost perfect cover. With a cultivated image of businessmen, with businesses importing beverages, car rentals, or managing leisure venues, they seemed far removed from everything. However, Operation Armorun, in which Civil Guard investigators focused on their economic movements, made their past catch up with them. Seven of its members were arrested in the province of Málaga for belonging to a criminal organization and money laundering related to drug trafficking. Steven Lyons, the 45-year-old group leader, was apprehended on March 28 in Bali (Indonesia), and simultaneously, his 38-year-old wife, Amanda Hayes, was arrested at Dubai International Airport (United Arab Emirates).
“When you reach these seemingly untouchable criminals who have been there for a long time, it’s a very strong blow,” says a source familiar with the investigation, carried out by the Central Operative Unit (UCO) of the Civil Guard. The Lyons were there, but it was necessary to trace “the entire circuit,” he adds. Detaining Steven Lyons, defined as “the head,” was fundamental. Also finding “the logistical hand” and “the financial hand.” Among the main targets is also Dean McFeely, also arrested. The number of arrests rises to 14, as five other people were apprehended in Scotland. To these must be added another 20 investigated in Spain and some targets yet to be arrested.
Steven Lyons’ life, the clan leader, has been closely linked to score-settling. He arrived on the Costa del Sol in 2006, after surviving a shooting at a mechanic’s workshop in Lambhill, north of Glasgow, in which his cousin, Michael Lyons, lost his life. He settled in Málaga for 19 years, maintaining a discreet profile, but last May he left just after a hooded man murdered his brother Eddie Lyons Jr., and one of his associates at the door of Monaghans pub in Fuengirola. The shooting, which turned out to be the seventh in less than two months on the Costa del Sol, generated great social alarm and once again put this area of the south of the country in the spotlight. Lyons and his partner settled in Dubai, from where he continued to pull the strings of the criminal group.
Lyons’ wife, Amanda Hayes, 38, is considered an “active member of the group.” The Scottish press highlights her criminal lineage these days. She is the daughter of Richard Ricky Hayes, a former Glasgow heroin dealer who became the head of the Scottish mafia on the Costa del Sol. Amanda’s sister, Rebeca Hayes, 32, has also been arrested in the same operation.
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Although Operation Armorum began four years ago, the “hard work” is now, the consulted sources emphasize. As in any financial investigation, the documentation seized in the 18 searches carried out between Málaga and Barcelona remains to be analyzed, and the laundered money estimated. The initial, still provisional, calculations reach 50 million euros. Spanish agents have worked with the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) and Police Scotland. Anti-narcotics agents from Turkey and the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) have also intervened.
The thread pulled by the Organized Crime Team (ECO) of the UCO in Málaga to dismantle the Lyons’ money laundering structure came from a previous investigation: Operation Whitewall. In that case, which came to light in September 2022, John Morrissey was arrested, whom they defined as “the Kinahan’s banker.” Morrissey is being investigated for associating with the Irish Kinahan clan, also known for its violence and considered an ally of the Lyons, to launder drug trafficking money. Steven Lyons had a preferential position in his client portfolio and was the next to be investigated.
Information from encrypted platforms like Encrochat and Sky ECC, phone applications with which mafias communicated freely and which were dismantled between 2020 and 2021, has been key. Thanks to these conversations, which took place years ago, agents learned that the Lyons had transported up to two million in cash in trucks heading to the United Kingdom and have also become aware of drug seizures linked to the Scottish clan.
If the accountant arrested in Operation Whitewall created a vodka brand for the Kinahans, called Nero, to launder their money, this time references to beverage companies reminiscent of this strategy have also been found. Three beverage import companies are being investigated, and during the searches, a gin bottle with the initials SL, those of the Lyons leader, was found. The investigated individuals managed a company that owned a bar in La Cala de Mijas (Málaga) where one could play golf simulators or watch Scottish league football matches, and the pub where the leader’s brother was murdered, now called The Irish Rover Sport Bar, was also searched. Banking products from more than 10 entities have been seized from them, and cryptocurrency movements are also being investigated.
“I left, I am an honest businessman”
Some of those investigated in Málaga expressed surprise when they were informed of their arrest. They claimed they had left their criminal life behind in Scotland. “I left, now I am an honest businessman,” one defended. Both Lyons and his wife had international arrest warrants issued by Interpol at the request of Spanish justice. Several Civil Guard agents traveled to Bali and escorted the leader to Amsterdam, where he remains detained. He still has to appear before the Dutch justice system, at a hearing scheduled for June 4. The court will decide on his extradition on the 18th of that month, according to the BBC. In Instruction Court Number 7 of Málaga, in charge of the case, they await the decision.
