Gerard Hutch has been remanded in custody as part of a Spanish money laundering investigation

Two people were remanded in custody and seven others were released on bail.

The High Court of the Canary Islands said in a statement last night: “The investigating magistrate ordered the remand without bail of the two alleged ringleaders and ordered the provisional release of the other seven.

“The investigation is ongoing, not closed, and the proceedings have been declared secret.”

All nine were arrested three days ago as part of a joint investigation involving the Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation and the lead agency, the Guardia Civil.

They appeared before a court in Arrecife, Lanzarote, and the judge imposed a confidentiality order on the case.

It is also understood that a close relative of Hutch was among those sent to court in Spain.

The raids took place at nearly a dozen locations earlier this week and the arrests were part of an operation targeting a transnational organized crime group suspected of involvement in money laundering in a number of jurisdictions.

Around 50 officers, including police from Tenerife and Aragon, took part in the search and arrest operation in Lanzarote, focusing on several locations in Arrecife, as well as the holiday resorts of Puerto del Carmen and Playa Blanca.

Three vehicles were reportedly immobilized near the five-star Arrecife Gran Hotel & Spa on Wednesday around 7:00am.

The license plates on the cars were covered with cardboard, with a strip of Civil Guard tape on them. One of the vehicles was a blue BMW and another a Ford.

Many of the raids took place before dawn.

No formal charges have yet been laid in indictments, but Hutch and the other suspects have now been “investigados” under Spanish law, which literally means they are “under investigation” on suspicion of the crime.

The ongoing criminal investigation will be conducted in private and is expected to last at least several months.

Hutch was acquitted last year of murdering David Byrne at the Regency Hotel in Dublin, walking free at the Special Criminal Court.

He had been arrested in Spain in connection with that case.

Crime kingpin Christy Kinahan Sr and his two sons, Daniel and Christopher, were arrested in 2010 on the Costa del Sol before the brutal feud with the Hutch family, which claimed 18 lives in Ireland and Spain.

A court near Marbella spent more than a decade investigating them for alleged drug and arms-trafficking, money-laundering and gang membership offenses before it was announced that only the so-called ‘Dapper Don’ would stand trial for minor crimes.

His trial date has not yet been set.