jail risk | 

Arrest and extradition of senior Kinahan gang members will cause headache for Irish authorities

Christy Sr, Daniel and Christy Jr and their already incarcerated associates are likely to be treated as a paramilitary organisation

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THE arrest and extradition of any senior Kinahan family member will create a massive security headache for the authorities in Ireland.

The Kinahan gang leaders, Christy Sr, Daniel and Christy Jr and their already incarcerated associates are likely to be treated as a paramilitary organisation with the potential to threaten prison staff, other inmates and even their families.

The prospect of their future extradition to Ireland increased this week with news that a file against the Kinahans has been sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Although the Americans still want to get their hands on the Kinahans with a $5 million bounty on their heads, they could still end up back in Ireland to face criminal charges.

Should that happen, like John Gilligan in 2000, they will arrive back in Ireland under armed guard and be detained in the high security Portlaoise Prison, Co. Laois.

It is the only prison in Ireland which still has a detachment of armed soldiers guarding the perimeter due to the presence of paramilitary prisoners who are detained there.

One source this week told the Sunday World that any Kinahan family members would be considered “extremely dangerous and influential” within the prison system.

“There is no question that they could be allowed to mix with the general population.”

Even with the presence of armed soldiers – who have orders to shoot to kill in certain circumstances – it’s likely the presence of a Kinahan in the prison would see heightened security measures being taken.

Kinahan gang members and associates have been held in the prison’s A Block and include figures such as Liam Brannigan, Thomas ‘Nicky’ McConnell and, until last June, ‘Fat’ Freddie Thompson.

Christy Kinahan Sr previously served time in Portlaoise and used a teenaged Daniel as a link to crime partners in Netherlands before his release in 2001.

In the Netherlands, authorities called in the army to help protect their high-security EVB prison, where members of a Kinahan crime partner gang, the ‘Maroc Mafia’, are being held.

There was even one plot uncovered in 2020 in which there was a plan to use Colombian mercenaries to attack the jail and free gang members.

It was reported the gang planned to land armed men inside the high-security prison from a hijacked helicopter.

Murder accused gang boss Riduoan Taghi is said to have already paid a group “a lot of money” prior to his arrest to free him from the prison if he didn’t get bail.

The McCarthy-Dundons previously planned a ‘spectacular’ attack on Portlaoise Prison when gang killer-turned-State witness Martin Cahill was held there.

Undercover UK agents exposed a plan by the gang to buy rocket-propelled grenade launchers to kill Cahill in his cell from outside.

A file on the Kinahans was sent to the DPP in recent weeks after a long-running probe into the gang’s leadership and their crimes in Ireland.

While the material submitted within the file has not been made public, it is understood that detectives have gathered evidence which they allege connects Daniel Kinahan to the day-to-day running of the gang.

He could also face charges in relation to the plot to kill James’ Mago’ Gately in which Estonian hitman Imre Arakas was sent to Dublin in April 2017.

Text messages copied from an encrypted phone before they were remotely deleted could form an important strand of evidence against him.

Garda Commissioner Drew Harris said this week he was hopeful senior members of the Kinahan Cartel would be prosecuted in Ireland. He said: “An Garda Síochána would hope to see leadership figures within the Kinahan Organised Crime Group brought to justice here in Ireland.”​

Gardaí said this week they were continuing to work with law enforcement partners in the US, UK and Europe “as part of a combined international effort to disrupt and dismantle the Kinahan Organised Crime Gang”.

An international arrest warrant remains in place for Crumlin man Sean McGovern, who is wanted over the murder of Noel ‘Duck Egg’ Kirwan in west Dublin in 2016.

Gardaí also want to charge McGovern with gangland offences relating to the murder attempt on ‘Mago’ Gately.

The crime gang’s main man in the UK, Thomas ‘Bomber’ Kavanagh, is currently serving a 21-year jail term for conspiring to import cocaine and cannabis into Britain.

Earlier this month, the 55-year-old was hit with additional charges of conspiracy to possess firearms and ammunition without a certificate, possessing and conspiring to pervert the course of justice.

Liam Byrne, the leader of the Byrne Organised Crime Group, which was effectively the cartel’s Dublin branch, remains in a Spanish prison awaiting extradition to the United Kingdom.