The garda in charge of the force’s war on gangland criminals yesterday declared: “We know exactly where the Kinahans are.”
Assistant Commissioner Justin Kelly did not divulge the whereabouts of Christy, Daniel and Christopher Kinahan – the three leaders who are now at the centre of a massive international crackdown. However, the serious and organised crime chief said: “We’re completely satisfied that we know their location.”
And he was keen to heap praise on their last known location, Dubai. There has been speculation Daniel, 45, his father Christy, 66, and brother Christopher, 43, had fled their Dubai bolthole after $5million bounties were placed on their heads by US cops last year.
Top copy Kelly said: “We’re completely satisfied that we know their location but it is not something that I am going to comment publicly on.” When pressed on whether Dubai could be doing more to target the cartel bosses, he added: “We have visited Dubai, we have been welcomed by the authorities there and we continue to do our work with them to achieve our goals with our international partners.”
Read more: Kinahan cartel boss Liam Byrne set to fight extradition and refuse to be sent to UK for trial
The Commissioner was speaking just days after Spanish police arrested Liam Byrne, 42, as he enjoyed a family meal in the Alcudia area of Mallorca on Sunday. Byrne, who, gardai believe, ran the Kinahan drugs operation in Europe, is now being held on foot of an extradition request from Britain.
The National Crime Agency there wants to charge him with firearms offences but we have been told other charges are also in the pipeline and he faces up to 20 years in the UK if convicted. And speaking yesterday, Commissioner Kelly said Byrne, whose brother David was murdered by the Hutch gang in the Regency Airport Hotel gun attack in February 2016, was a key cartel figure.
He said: “Liam Byrne is a trusted member of the Kinahan organised crime group, he was well placed in the hierarchy, that is why it is such a particularly significant (development). This is a real demonstration of our international cooperation with our partners, particularly the NCA and the Spanish authorities, who we have a lot of dealings with.”
He added: “On a practically daily bases we have officers between the UK, Spain – now we have a Garda Liaison Officer based actually in the Middle East in Dubai and all that work continues. We will be absolutely relentless in our work to disrupt this organised criminal group. It just shows that there are no safe havens for criminals like Liam Byrne and we will continue that cooperation.”
Meanwhile, Commissioner Kelly’s predecessor, John O’Driscoll, last night told The Star that he expected more Kinahan chiefs to be arrested. Mr O’Driscoll, who led the investigation that saw the Kinahans hit with sanctions, told us: “There is no reason to expect that the success won’t continue into the future. There may be further prosecutions in a number of jurisdictions in the months and years to come.”
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