Background
The Kinahan Organised Crime Group was founded by Christy Kinahan in the late 1990s and early 2000s while Ireland's "Celtic Tiger" period of rapid economic growth was occurring. [33] [42] A native Dubliner, Kinahan's first convictions date back to the late 1970s and involved house breaking, car theft, burglary, handling stolen goods and forgery. [43] [44] The group reportedly began as a street gang of inner-city drug dealers in Dublin, but soon grew on a global scale to become the current multi-million dollar criminal network that it is today. [45] Christy Kinahan served as the direct leader of the organisation up until the position was passed on to his son Daniel Kinahan. [46] Since then, Irish courts have concluded that the group is a murderous organisation involved in the international trafficking of drugs and firearms. [47] [48]
On 12 April 2022, the United States Department of State announced the offering of rewards of up to US$5 million under the Narcotics Rewards Program for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of Kinahan family members. The reward is offered jointly with the Garda Síochána, National Crime Agency, and Drug Enforcement Administration. [49] [50] [51] The seven key members were named as: Daniel Kinahan; Christopher Kinahan; Christopher Kinahan Jnr; veteran Dublin-born criminal Bernard Clancy; Daniel Kinahan’s “advisor and closest confidant" Sean McGovern; former KOCG enforcer now Marbella-based money launderer "Johnny Cash" Morrissey; and Ian Dixon who was arrested over the 2015 Costa del Sol murder of Gary Hutch but never charged. [52]
Despite the sanctions being imposed on the group, it was reported in August 2022 that Spanish-based associates of the Kinahan cartel were continuing to operate multi-million-euro drug shipments. [53] "Johnny Cash" Morrissey and his wife Nicola were arrested in Marbella, Spain on Monday 13 September 2022. [52]
In February 2023, a raid on a business in the Long Mile Road area of Dublin led to the seizure of equipment, the arrest of eight people and 40 kg of cocaine. [54] [55] Over 2,000 containers of nitric oxide were seized, as well as €78,000 in cash, a hydraulic drugs press, communications devices, mixing agent and a money counter. [54] [55] Two of those arrested were later released. [54] [55]
In 2023 Edin Gačanin, who is involved in organized crime in Bosnia and Herzegovina was sanctioned by the US who cited "close links" to Daniel Kinahan after broken encrypted chats show how the Kinahan cartel was involved in €350m coke plot. The US named Daniel Kinahan, his father Christy Kinahan Snr and Christy Kinahan Jnr as the three key players of the Kinahan gang. [56]
The Kinahan cartel had been living openly and running their operations from Dubai, enjoying the immunity that the city offers to organized crime groups. The cartel maintains ties with the regime, along with financial links with powerful Dubai families. [57] [58] Multiple companies were set by the group in Dubai to offer business services and to trade textiles, clothing and food. An investigation revealed that the businesses were being used to supply drugs, including cocaine, heroin, and others, and to launder dirty money. [59] Despite keeping a low profile, they ran the business as usual in Dubai. [57] A number of meetings are held by the Kinahan family with their criminal associates in Dubai. [60] In October 2024, Sean Gerard McGovern was arrested by the Interpol notice in Dubai. Fearing McGovern’s extradition to Ireland, the cartel laid out a detailed plan to move out from Dubai to Russia. [61] [62] [63] On 21 October, Ireland signed an extradition treaty with the UAE. [64]
They laundered money via the Smart and TGR networks. [65]
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