THIS IS the picture that will send a chill through gangland this morning - the Godfather of Irish crime Christy Kinahan back on the streets.

Our exclusive snaps reveal that 'the Dapper Don' is back in his Costa del Crime stronghold after being freed 18 months early from a prison term for money laundering in Belgium. But he wasn't happy to be greeted by a Sunday World team as he arrived to sign on at a Spanish court, where he is still under investigation for masterminding a half a billion euro drugs cartel. Kinahan, from .

Oliver Bond flats in Dublin, looked furious when he was cor-nered by our investigative team and asked to comment on being at the centre of one of Europe's biggest ever narcotics probes. He sent a female companion to bring him an umbrella and a baseball cap to hide tails,per as we pursued him to a waiting car. It's the first taste of freedom Kinahan has had since he was arrested in his underwear during a dramatic dawn raid by Spanish cops in May 2010. And it spells trouble for gangsters around Ireland who he believes owe him cash.

Kinahan is emerging into a transformed criminal landscape in Ireland, where his former confidante Eamon Kelly has been murdered, the recession is playing havoc with revenue from the drug trade and chaos reigns. He has already sent enforcers like Tat' Freddie Thompson and Paul Rice to demand payment for all outstanding cash he believes he is owed by the rival gangs he has supplied from his drug network. Looking fit and living up to his moniker as 'the Dapper Don', he strode into the local court building in Estepona on the Costa del Sol last Monday. He spent over an hour inside the offices, where an investigation into his Spanish. based crime network is being conducted. When he emerged the Sunday World asked if he wanted to make a comment, but Kinahan grimaced.

He briefly opened his mouth as if to say something, but changed his mind and walked away. However, he dropped some documents and had to balance the brolly with one hand while picking them up. A furious Kinahan then walked straight at the Sunday World photographer and deliberately tried to block our man with his open brolly. Thinking better of the confrontation, he walked away and got into the black VW Touareg driven by his companion, who took pictures of our journalists in an act of intimidation. Despite the fact that 'the Dapper Don' is again free to roam the streets, Operation Shovel, the investigation into dozens of front companies used by Kinahan and his associates to launder illicit cash, is still continuing.

Sources claim that the scale of the probe means it will be next year before any trial will take place. It is believed that the gang funnelled as much as €500 million, buying commodities and properties all over the world. Investigators now believe that a plan to develop tourist resorts on a stretch of Brazilian coastline was a money-laundering ruse to borrow cash from banks they had no intention of paying back. Huge commodity deals involving millions worth of goods, such as bananas and cement, were also used to disguise cash from drug transactions.

The probe by officers from Operation Shovel is not the only setback Kinahan has to grapple with. Since the major bust in 2010, one of his key lieutenants in Ireland, Eamon Kelly, was shot dead by dissident republicans. Kelly had played a key role in guarantee-ing deals between Ireland's criminals both in Ireland and the Costa del Sol.

Nothing happened in Ireland's under-world without the blessing of Kinahan and Kelly, before the ageing gangster was gunned down in December last year. His killing threw Ireland's drugs busi-ness into disarray. During Kinahan's spell in a Belgian jail another of his under-world cronies Tat' Freddie Thompson arrived on the Costa del Sol after being extradited by Spanish police. Demanding Thompson had avoided arrest during the Operation Shovel swoops, but remained a wanted man.

He has since been told he is free to leave Spain and at Christmas he was back in Dublin spreading fear and demanding cash on behalf of Kinahan. Another Kinahan thug, Paul Rice,also sent home to Dublin last year to col-lect the debts owed to Kinahan's network, which was being managed by son Daniel in his absence. Drug dealers all over Ireland were told in no uncertain terms to cough up the cash they owed or face serious consequences. The collapse in the cocaine market, as well as the global property crash since 2008 has hit Kinahan's cash flow hard, even though he is believed to have as much as €200 million already stashed away. Although dozens of high-end cars were seized and bank accounts frozen, Kinahan and his son Daniel have reportedly kept their luxury villa homes in Estepona. Kinahan's release from jail now means that he can resume control of his illegal business, which had suffered badly in the last two years. Kinahan and his sons, Daniel and Christy junior, were among the 23 people initially arrested by Operation Shovel.

It emerged then that the Kinahans' organisation had laundered at least €500 million through property and commodity dealing all over the world. Sources claimed that he had become so succeSsful at money laundering that other international criminal syndicates paid for his services. Christy spent six months in custody in notorious Alhaurin del Torre prison near Malaga. The Kinahans were then allowed out on bail of €60,000, but Belgian authorities requested Christy senior's extradition. Kinahan had previously been handed a four-year prison sentence by a court in Antwerp after being found guilty on 10 counts of money laundering in September 2009. The probe into Kinahan's operation also revealed a web of corruption involving criminals, a professional soccer club, FT Forcom, and local police officers.

Unusual Christy senior is now regarded as one of the biggest players in Europe's criminal underworld. Although he served time in Ireland in the late 1990s for various offences he is an unusual criminal. During one stint behind bars he complet-ed a degree and he is fluent in a number of languages, including Dutch and Flemish. He heads a serious criminal outfit which has a global reach and makes millions of euro every year. Kinahan's outfit has also been linked to murders in Spain, the UK and Ireland — including Eamon 'the Don' Dunne — over the years.