Crime boss Steven Lyons to challenge Spain extradition bid

One of Scotland's most high-profile gangland figures will contest his extradition from the Netherlands to Spain, BBC Scotland News can reveal.

Steven Lyons' lawyer Arne Kloosterman has confirmed that he is planning to oppose the move when his client appears before Amsterdam District Court on Thursday.

Lyons, 46, who was arrested in Bali in March and later deported, is expected to attend the hearing. The judge's decision will then be published on 18 June.

Police in Spain previously said they had "dismantled" a criminal drugs gang led by members of the Lyons family.

The Civil Guard said it had made 14 arrests in four countries, with 20 other people under investigation.

The arrests came as part of Operation Armorum, which has also seen police in Turkey locate and freeze high-value assets linked to the Lyons network, the statement said.

The Civil Guard is one of Spain's two national police agencies. It operates as a paramilitary organisation and deals with high-level security and serious crime.

It said the Lyons operation has involved 18 raids, mostly on the Costa Del Sol and Barcelona.

Electronic devices, large amounts of cash, company documents, high-end watches and cryptocurrency wallets were seized as part of the investigation.

This follows a three-year probe in collaboration with Police Scotland.

The statement said the Lyons gang has developed a criminal network in Europe, the Middle East and Asia, with "a complex money laundering network based on shell companies and international financial transactions, managing millions of euros derived from drug trafficking."

It added: "Its ability to operate simultaneously in several countries - including Spain, the United Arab Emirates, and Turkey - and to forge alliances with other major criminal networks, solidified the clan's position as one of the most significant players in contemporary European organised crime."

Lyons was put on a flight out of Indonesia on 7 April.

In a release confirming the move, the local Ngurah Rai Immigration Office described him as a "mafia boss and Interpol fugitive".

The 46-year-old is the head of the Lyons group, which has been involved in a feud with the rival Daniel group for more than 20 years.

In 2006, he survived a shooting at a garage in Lambhill in the north of Glasgow. His cousin, Michael Lyons, died in the incident.

Lyons later moved to Spain before settling in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, where he has ties to the Dubai-based Kinahan crime group.

Lyons' brother, Eddie Lyons Jnr, and his associate Ross Monaghan were shot dead in a beachfront bar in Fuengirola on the Costa del Sol last May.

Michael Riley, 44, from Liverpool, has been accused by Spanish police of the murders.

He had challenged an extradition bid but the Crown Prosecution Service confirmed in October that he had given his consent to be taken to Spain to face prosecution.

In the days after the double shooting, a Spanish National Police detective said the suspect was a member of the rival Daniel gang.

Police Scotland have maintained there is nothing to suggest the murders in Spain are linked to the ongoing gang war or that it was planned in Scotland.