Authorities may appeal decision to free Savage

DUTCH authorities are considering appealing a decision by a local court to free a major Irish drug trafficker after reading articles about the suspect in Irish and Dutch newspapers.

A report in the Irish Examiner yesterday revealed that international dealer Tommy Savage had been released from custody in Amsterdam pending an extradition hearing to Greece.

Gardaí said they believed Savage would flee the country and avoid prosecution in connection with the seizure of four tonnes of cannabis in Greece in 1997. The Public Prosecutor’s Office in Amsterdam yesterday said they might appeal the decision made last week to release Savage until the extradition hearing.

“We are thinking maybe of appealing the decision of the investigating judge. We have 14 days from the decision to decide. So, we have until next Wednesday,” said Meulen Broek of the prosecutor’s office. Mr Broek said they did not know Savage was such a major criminal at the time the judge decided to release him from jail.

Savage, who lived in a budget hotel in Amsterdam, had no local criminal record. However, after reading reports in the Irish Examiner and other media, here and in the Netherlands, Mr Meulen said they had more information.

He said they would be in contact with Interpol who would be in communication with Irish police.

If the prosecutor’s office appeals and wins, Savage will be re-arrested, if still in the country, and held in custody until the extradition hearing. Savage was arrested by Dutch police on January 14 on foot of an international request for his arrest issued by Greek authorities.

Dutch officials requested a formal extradition warrant and relevant documentation. The investigating judge released Savage on condition he surrender his passport, which he did.

Gardaí believe Savage can easily get another passport and leave the country, possibly to Spain, where members of John Gilligan’s trafficking gang are based.

Savage originally fled to the Netherlands in the mid-1990s along with fellow Dublin criminals, Mick Weldon and Robbie Murphy, following threats from the IRA.

Together, they set up a massive drug trafficking network from Europe intoIreland, supplying dealers in North Dublin, the border region and Cork.There are no warrants for his arrest here, although gardaí would like to talk to him in relation to two murders.

Savage was involved in both the Official IRA and the INLA and served nine years in jail for armed robbery in the 1970s and 1980s.