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Spanish prosecutors formally back extradition of Kinahan mobster Liam Byrne in court

The Crumlin gang figure appeared in a Spanish court along with relative Jack Kavanagh yesterday

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The Spanish Prosecutor’s Office has formally backed the extradition of Kinahan mobster Liam Byrne and his nephew Jack Kavanagh to the UK at a court hearing yesterday.

Dublin criminal Byrne, along with the son of Thomas ‘Bomber’ Kavanagh, have been fighting efforts to extradite them since they were arrested in June.

Byrne (42) is wanted by Britain’s National Crime Agency (NCA) after being accused of alleged gun running.

Jack Kavanagh, who is based in Tamworth, Staffordshire, was also arrested in Malaga Airport within days of Byrne’s arrest, also in relation to alleged firearms offences.

Liam Byrne is Jack Kavanagh’s uncle.

Both he and Kavanagh were sent to prison after deciding to fight Britain’s extradition requests in separate hearings before a judge at Spain’s Audiencia Nacional court, which deals with extraditions.

However, the Prosecutor’s Office is Spain yesterday told a court hearing that they “supported the delivery to the United Kingdom of two Irish citizens of the so-called Kinahan clan”…“for their alleged participation in the purchase of weapons”.

It noted that both men opposed being handed over to the United Kingdom “by rejecting the accusations against them”.

“According to their respective claims, contained in the respective reports of the Prosecutor’s Office, both conspired jointly and with other unknown persons to possess firearms and ammunition,” it is stated.

They are also accused of perverting the course of justice, “by assisting Thomas Kavanagh in hiding firearms and ammunition”, so that he could “pretend to the police that he was helping them by revealing their whereabouts”.

Spanish authorities claim that, having acquired firearms and ammunition abroad, the defendants and other members of the group would hide them.

It is claimed their “partner” would offer to collaborate with “English authorities” and would inform them about the existence of a weapons and ammunition depot in a bid to reduce their sentence.

The Spanish claim ‘Bomber’ Kavanagh, through the encrypted messaging platform Encrochat, that was widely used by criminals, played a prominent role in the supply of weapons, obtaining 14, through a third party.

On May 31, 2020, this third party asked the defendant how long the firearms should be kept, to which he responded “until the sentence.”

On May 20, 2021, officers from the National Crime Agency (NCA) found a cache of firearms in Newry, County Down, Northern Ireland.

In total, 11 firearms were seized, including Keckler and Koche P30 pistols of 9×19 mm calibre and 7.65×17 mm calibre ammunition.

In August, it emerged how Jack’s dad, Kinahan cartel gangster Thomas ‘Bomber’ Kavanagh had concocted a bizarre strategy to get a reduced prison sentence by informing police where they could find the stash of guns.

Prosecutors outlined how Kavanagh, who is already serving a 21-year sentence for overseeing shipments of cocaine and cannabis into the UK worth €36m, had given information to police from the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) on the location of the 11 firearms.

Liam Byrne and Jack Kavanagh are both suspected of being involved in the plot to procure weapons, for the UK police, on behalf of ‘Bomber’.

But information gleaned from the EncroChat encrypted communications network allegedly involving all the charged men led specialist police to uncover the plot.

“NCA officers believe Liam Byrne, Jack Kavanagh and Shaun Kent conspired to pervert the course of justice by planning to reveal the location of weapons in an attempt to get Thomas Kavanagh a reduced prison sentence,” the NCA said in a statement after the brief court hearing in August.

The NCA’s regional head of investigations, Craig Turner, said: “These charges are a major milestone in what has been a long and complex international investigation.

“We will continue to work with our partners to target criminals who we suspect are operating at the highest levels of organised crime impacting on the UK.”

Byrne, whose brother David Byrne was murdered in Dublin’s Regency Hotel in February 2016, was believed to have been in Dubai since December 2021 after he learned of the investigation in the UK.

He was arrested by armed police on the Spanish island of Mallorca and now faces extradition to England and the prospect of a lengthy jail sentence.

Classed as the leader of the Byrne Organised Crime Group (BOCG), career criminal Byrne was heavily involved in drug trafficking and violent crime, the High Court in Dublin has previously been told.

This week we revealed how gangland hardman Peadar Keating branded his boss Thomas ‘Bomber’ Kavanagh a ‘rat’ after he was told he is wanted in the UK on the gun conspiracy charges.

Keating, who is serving an 11-year prison term in Portlaoise, is wanted by the National Crime Agency as part of new charges brought against Kavanagh, his son Jack and Liam Byrne.

Keating has been implicated in the bizarre case which has backfired on Kavanagh after he tried to give up the guns to authorities in order to lessen his own sentence for drug trafficking.

He was brought to the High Court in Dublin for an extradition hearing this week, accused of conspiring to possess firearms and helping jailed Kavanagh beat a gun rap.

The State is seeking to extradite the 42-year-old to face the charges over the alleged plot to assist Kavanagh to reduce his 21-year jail term for masterminding a drug smuggling operation.

Keating has been a loyal lieutenant of Kavanagh for decades in Ireland, running his drugs and weapons, and is currently in prison over an attempt to kill Hutch loyalist James ‘Mago’ Gately in a plot directed by Daniel Kinahan and Sean McGovern from Dubai.

Judge Melanie Greally adjourned the extradition case for a hearing date to be set later and Keating was returned to prison after the brief hearing.

He has told fellow prisoners that Kavanagh ‘ratted him out’ to save his own skin and is furious as he now faces completing his Irish sentence in a UK prison where he will also have to face court on gun charges.

A warrant was issued for Keating at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on August 16 when Kavanagh and others appeared from custody. He is accused of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice by assisting Kavanagh’s attempt to reduce his sentence for conspiring to import Class A and B drugs.

The case centres around the seizure of automatic weapons and ammunition and nine offences which are alleged to have happened between January 9, 2020 and June 3, 2021.

At the hearing Kavanagh appeared over video link from the maximum security Belmarsh jail and spoke only to confirm his name and date of birth.

McLoughlin has denied conspiracies to possess a firearm and ammunitions without a certificate and conspiracies to possess a prohibited weapon and ammunitions.

Kent denied two counts of conspiracy to possess a firearm and ammunitions without a certificate and conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

The investigation centres on Encrochat handles and information received about firearms, some of which were hidden in Ireland. A trial estimated to last between four and six weeks has been set for September 2 next year at the Old Bailey.