Garda Commissioner Drew Harris says he is confident that mob boss Daniel Kinahan will face charges.
Asked by the Irish Mirror at the annual conference of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors if he is confident that the crime boss, who is holed up in Dubai, will face charges, Mr Harris said: “Yes. That’s the whole purpose of this, to bring the leaders of the Kinahan crime group to justice.
“Significant advances have been made, particularly in Europe, but also with our US federal law enforcement partners. And so there is action in this and it keeps on moving forward.”
READ MORE: 'Good progress' in probe into Daniel Kinahan hailed by Justice Minister as net tightens on mob boss
We asked the Garda Commissioner the question as we approach a year since the US government announced crippling sanctions against the cartel and a massive $15M reward for any information that could lead to their prosecution.
Now Mr Harris has revealed that he’s regularly updated about the probe into the Kinahans - and says that the gang has been significantly weakened over the last year.
“Every month I’m updated on progress between myself and our partners.
“We’re still working very closely together and it’s a very good example of action between many nations directed towards what is a transnational crime group.
“So work carries on but we always knew this would be a difficult target but much diminished from where it was a year ago.”
Asked if he believes the Kinahans could face justice in the Irish courts the Commissioner said he doesn’t have a preference - and spoke about the new permanent senior garda post in the UAE.
“I haven’t a preference. My preference is to see them in front of some form of criminal tribunal.
“But I would also point out that we ourselves are stepping up our activity in the middle east and we’ll be putting a Detective Superintendent out to the UAE and that has proved very very important in other nations in terms of getting intelligence acting on that intelligence but also then in terms of obtaining evidence as well.
“So we hope to see good advances when that appointment happens, which will be in the summer.”
The Garda Commissioner’s comments on this issue come after Justice Minister Simon Harris indicated yesterday that significant progress has been made in the probe into the Kinahan cartel.
The US Treasury Department announced a $15M reward for any information which would lead to the prosecution of Christy Kinahan Sr and his sons Daniel Kinahan and Christy Jr.
Authorities in the UAE then followed suit with sanctions of their own - targeting bank accounts connected to the Kinahan cartel.
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