Ireland’s ‘most wanted man’ was living a life of luxury in Dubai just months ago. But this morning Daniel Kinahan, 49, woke up in a high-security prison after being charged with leading one of the world’s biggest drug cartels.
The Dubliner’s journey to face justice didn’t come about overnight. His arrest in April and eventual extradition to Ireland was the result of tears of Garda (Irish police) operations involving the a $5m FBI reward for information and United Arab Emirates officials.
Authorities claim he and his father, Christy Kinahan, led a $1.5 billion international cartel involved in drug trafficking, money laundering, and an extortion network that started decades ago. Daniel also allegedly tried to wash his image by launching a successful boxing career – with former heavyweight world champion Tyson Fury singing his praises in a video.
Chilling rise
The Kinahan Organised Crime Group was founded by Daniel’s father Christy, a Dublin native, in the late 1990s. Christy’s staggering criminal record dates back to the late 1970s and includes housebreaking, vehicle theft, burglary, receiving stolen property and forgery.
The group allegedly began as a street gang of inner-city drug dealers in Dublin, but quickly grew on an international scale to become the billion pound criminal enterprise it is today.
Christy served as the top dog until the role was allegedly passed on to Daniel. Irish courts have since ruled that the group constitutes a murderous organisation involved in the international smuggling of drugs and weapons.
The hierarchy of the criminal gang allegedly started with Christy and Daniel, with Daniel’s brother Christopher Kinahan Jnr.
Also present were seasoned Dublin-born criminal Bernard Clancy, Daniel’s “advisor and closest confidant” Sean McGovern, former KOCG enforcer now Marbella-based money launderer “Johnny Cash” Morrissey and Ian Dixon.
Hutch Feud
But it wasn’t just drugs that the Kinahans were infamous for. Between 2015 and 2018, their feud with the Hutch crime family resulted in the deaths of 18 people.
The apprehension of cartel boss Daniel Kinahan may have occurred in Dubai, but it was orchestrated in Ireland.
Valued at no less than €1.5 billion (£1.3 billion), the cartel has been held responsible for 20 murders in Ireland, Spain and across Europe, and is now under unparalleled scrutiny.
This pressure stems from a relentless and ongoing campaign against them by the gardai, which began late in the evening of 5 February 2016. Just hours earlier, the Hutch Organised Crime Gang had attempted to assassinate Kinahan in a daring daylight attack on the Regency Airport Hotel in north Dublin – narrowly missing him but killing key ally David Byrne.
The Regency Airport Hotel attack is still one of the most chilling shootings in Ireland’s history and it ignited the bloody feud.
FBI’s $15million bounty
The fortunes of the Kinahan cartel began to change in April 2022 when the FBI offered $15million for information leading to the arrest of Daniel, Christy Jr and Christy Sr.
Despite the massive bounty, it was reported in August 2022 that Spanish-based associates of the Kinahan cartel were still coordinating multi-million-euro drug operations.
In February 2023, a raid on properties in the Long Mile Road area of Dublin led to the seizure of equipment, the arrest of eight individuals and 40 kg of cocaine. Over 2,000 containers of nitric oxide were recovered, along with €78,000 in cash, a hydraulic drugs press, communication devices, mixing agent and a money counter.
The Kinahan cartel had been living openly and conducting their operations from Dubai, taking advantage of the protection that the city offers to organised crime syndicates.
Despite the gang’s leaders living openly in Dubai, the $5million bounty on each of their heads proved to be a turning point.
Daniel’s extradition and what comes next
Kinahan was arrested on April 17 as part of a bilateral agreement between Ireland and the United Arab Emirates. He was detained there until he was last night flown on an Irish Government jet to finally face justice in Dublin’s Special Criminal Court.
The plane landed at Casement aerodrome in Baldonnel on the outskirts of Dublin just after 6.30pm. Shortly after the jet landed, a convoy of vehicles with blacked-out windows left the aerodrome at high speed headed for Dublin.
Kinahan appeared in Dublin’s Special Criminal Court at 8.10pm wearing a black hoodie and black tracksuit bottoms and flanked by two plain cloths Gardai. He was remanded in custody after being charged with directing an organised crime group.
He will next appear in court on October 5, and was told that he has the option of either attending in person or appearing via video link.