Daniel Kinahan (right) poses with former world heavyweight champion Tyson Fury
(Picture: Twitter)An Irish gangster linked to Tyson Fury was placed under worldwide sanctions on Tuesday as he was named by the US as the head of an organised crime family responsible for murders and smuggling large quantities drugs into Britain.
The US Treasury said that Daniel Kinahan – who was publicly saluted by Fury for his role in trying to organise a world heavyweight fight with Anthony Joshua – runs the “day to day operations” of the “murderous” Kinahan Organised Crime Group involved in international drugs and firearms trafficking and money laundering.
It said he and six other members of the gang, including his father Christopher Snr and brother Christopher Jnr, as well as three businesses, were being placed under sanctions as a result.
That means that their assets in America will be frozen and that any person in or transiting the US will be banned from dealing with them. It also prevents Kinahan from conducting transactions in dollars, the currency used in most major boxing deals.
Today’s sanctions notice adds that the crime group’s activities include “international money laundering, generate proceeds in the United Kingdom, which are then pooled together and passed to local criminals before being handed to Irish organized crime group members and laundered out of the United Kingdom.”
It says that Daniel Kinahan “sources large quantities of cocaine from South America” and “plays an integral part in organising the supply of drugs in Ireland, and is attempting to facilitate the importation of cocaine into the United Kingdom”, while his brother Christopher has collaborated with other members of the Kinahan Organised Crime Group to transport and sell narcotics in the United Kingdom.”
The sanctions designation also warns that the Kinahan crime family has also been “involved in a gang war with another group in Ireland and Spain, resulting in numerous murders, including of two innocent bystanders” since 2016.
Matt Horne, a deputy director of the National Crime Agency, which has previously secured convictions against two other senior members of the crime group, said today’s action followed international collaboration against the Kinahans and would deal a significant blow to them
“We target criminals who cause the most harm, are the most violent, those who exploit the vulnerable, and dominate communities. The Kinahan crime group fall into all of those categories,” he said.
“They have transcended international boundaries – distributing multi-million pound shipments of drugs throughout Ireland, the UK and mainland Europe, and have been engaging in firearms trafficking and money laundering.
“They thought they were untouchable but the sanctions imposed today will be a huge blow to the Kinahans. It has cut them off from the global financial system, making them toxic to legitimate businesses and financial institutions, and will cause other criminals to think twice about doing business with them.
“Additionally, it shows that we will explore every opportunity available to disrupt their criminal activities and, rest assured, we will not stop here.
“It doesn’t matter how long it takes, we will ensure those who are responsible for flooding the streets with drugs and firearms, laundering the proceeds of crime, ordering murders and inflicting violence are held to account for their action.”
