Foreign News
Irish cartel boss Daniel Kinahan extradited from Dubai and charged in Dublin
An Irish court on Sunday charged alleged cartel boss Daniel Kinahan with directing a criminal organisation and remanded him in custody after his extradition from Dubai on a government jet.
The 49-year-old Irishman appeared in court after being flown back on Sunday evening from Dubai on the basis of an arrest warrant issued by Ireland.
He is alleged to be one of the leaders of a transnational group, known as the Kinahan Organised Crime Group (KOCG) or the Kinahan cartel.
Irish police, with the help of authorities in Britain, Spain and the US, have been pursuing members of the Kinahan gang since at least 2016, when the feud led to a daytime shooting during the weigh-in for a boxing match at a Dublin hotel. Kinahan was a boxing promoter at the time.
The authorities allege the gang smuggled tens of millions of dollars in illegal drugs, including cocaine and cannabis, as well as guns into Europe, then used a network of apparently legitimate enterprises to launder the profits.
The Irish government jet reportedly carrying Kinahan landed at Casement Aerodrome, a military air base west of Dublin at about 6:30pm (17:30 GMT) as a helicopter circled overhead, an AFP video journalist saw.
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Shortly afterwards a high-speed convoy of cars with blacked-out windows sped out of the gates, sirens blaring, watched by a crowd of people on the roadside.
Irish police later said in a statement they had arrested and charged a man in his late 40s over “serious organised crime offences” without naming Kinahan.
Irish police chief Justin Kelly said “this arrest shows our determination, along with our international policing partners including Dubai Police, to target transnational organised crime groups”.
‘High-profile’ suspect
Kinahan appeared shortly afterwards at the Special Criminal Court in Dublin, where he was charged with directing an organised crime organisation and remanded in custody until a hearing on October 5.
He was told the charge is that he directed the activities of a criminal organisation between October 2015 and April 2017.
Wearing a tracksuit bottom and a hoodie and glasses, Kinahan, flanked by plain-clothes police, appeared composed, reported the Irish Mirror.
The Special Criminal Court where Kinahan was taken is used for criminal cases involving terrorism and organised crime offences.
Trials there have three judges and no jury.
In a joint statement Sunday, UAE and Irish justice ministers called Kinahan “one of the most high-profile individuals sought for prosecution in connection with transnational organised crime”.
‘Sends clear message’
Irish Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan said on X the extradition “sends a clear message that suspected perpetrators of serious and organised crime will find no safe haven from justice”.
He hailed it as a “landmark of judicial cooperation with Dubai”.
Irish Foreign Minister Helen McEntee called this “the culmination of years of determined work” by Irish police and successive governments.
Kinahan had lost a final appeal against extradition from the UAE, where he had been living openly for around a decade before his arrest.
He is to be held in the high-security Portlaoise Prison in central Ireland, which houses some of the country’s most notorious prisoners.
Kinahan moved to the UAE from Spain around 2016.
He also had ties to a now-defunct boxing management company that represented boxers including Tyson Fury and Carl Frampton.
Kinahan is the second person allegedly linked to the same criminal organisation to be extradited from Dubai.
Sean McGovern, described by a judge as “senior lieutenant in the cartel”, was extradited after his arrest there in 2024.
In June, McGovern was sentenced to 24 years in prison in Ireland after pleading guilty to directing organised crime and attempted murder.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP and AP)
