Judges to quiz Irish gangsters on €250m drug empire links

Judges to quiz Irish gangsters on €250m drug empire links

By Gerard Couzens and Tom Brady

Friday May 28 2010

SPANISH authorities want to question two major crime figures here about their involvement with drug kingpin Christy Kinahan.

The pair have been named on a list of people Spanish judges plan to question following the arrest of Kinahan (53) on the Costa del Sol and the break-up of a criminal empire, which police believe is worth €250m, he is suspected of heading.

Both of the Irish-based criminals have been moving between here and Spain for more than two years and are friends of some of those already arrested in this week's inquiries.

One of the suspects is a convicted criminal and was questioned by gardai last year about the €7.2m tiger kidnap of an official from the Bank of Ireland branch at College Green in the centre of Dublin.

Another suspect for that robbery was detained by gardai on Tuesday over his alleged links to Kinahan's empire but was later released.

The criminal was also a suspect for the murder of Derek Duffy, of St Attracta's Road, Cabra, in September 2007. Duffy was murdered in the front seat of his car after he had agreed to meet the gunman.

The second man wanted for questioning is the reputed leader of one of the gangs involved in the deadly Crumlin-Drimnagh feud and he relocated to Spain last summer -- but keeps in close touch with his associates here.

Assets

An Estepona-based judge currently co-ordinating the Kinahan inquiry has named both men in the formal judicial proceedings that opened after Tuesday's arrests.

Christy Kinahan and his alleged right-hand man John Cunningham, who were detained during dawn raids at their Costa del Sol homes, are also on a list of people and companies linked to the police operation drawn up by the judge at court number three in Estepona.

The judge intends to quiz all 22 people on the list about the massive drug-trafficking and money-laundering operation. After they give statements, the judge will decide whether to make them witnesses or suspects. Their assets have been frozen by court order as a precautionary measure.

The list is expected to expand in coming days as the inquiry continues. But a source close to the inquiry said: "They are all regarded as part of this case and will be called to court for questioning."

More than 30 firms suspected of being fronts for money laundering and drug trafficking are also on the list drawn up by the judge. Police believe the companies involved may have been used to ship drugs between Spain, Ireland and the UK.

Spain's Interior Minister Alfredo Rubalcaba described the gang under investigation as one of the "most dangerous" ever tackled.

Hilario Lopez, the Spanish government's delegate in Malaga Province, said: "Those involved in organised crime know they're being pursued.

"The feeling of impunity they once enjoyed no longer exists."

- Gerard Couzens and Tom Brady

Irish Independent

Dublin gangsters linked to Kinahan

Irish Times 28/05/10

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TWO LEADING Dublin gangland figures have emerged as suspects in the investigation in Spain into the drugs and money laundering cartel headed by Irishman Christy Kinahan.

The pair have been named in court documents in Spain as part of a wider list of suspects in the Kinahan investigation.

The men, who are both in their late 20s, are leading members of two of Dublin’s main armed robbery and drugs gangs.

The presence of the men’s names on the official list of suspects represents the first firm link between Kinahan’s international gang and organised crime groups in Ireland.

One of the suspects now being sought in Spain is a member of a well-known crime family from Dublin’s north inner city. The man is the chief suspect for the murder of Derek Duffy in Finglas, Dublin, in September 2007, and has been questioned about that killing. Mr Duffy was shot five times as he sat in his car, and an attempt was made to set the car on fire with his remains inside.

The north inner city man now sought in Spain is also a suspect for the €7.6 million tiger robbery at the Bank of Ireland in College Green, Dublin, in February 2009, when a bank worker’s family was held at gunpoint.

He has served a number of prison sentences. It is not clear whether he is living in Spain or Ireland at present, but he has split his time between both jurisdictions.

The second young Irish gangland figure now being sought by the Spanish team investigating the Kinahan gang is the leader of one of two gangs involved in a feud in Dublin’s Crumlin and Drimnagh suburbs. That feud has cost the lives of at least 14 people in the past 10 years.

The Crumlin-Drimnagh gang leader is believed to be living in Spain at present. He has been linked to drug dealing and gun and pipe bomb attacks here. Assets in Spain of both of the Dublin gangland figures now sought, believed to be bank accounts, have been frozen.

Kinahan (53), from Dublin’s south inner city, remained in custody in Spain last night after his arrest there along with 21 other suspects on Tuesday morning.

His southern Spain-based gang is believed to have supplied vast quantities of cocaine and cannabis to gangs in Ireland and Britain for almost a decade.

Kinahan’s close associate, the convicted armed robber and Jennifer Guinness kidnapper John Cunningham (58), also remains in custody in Spain.

The man arrested in Dublin on Tuesday as part of the international operation against the Kinahan gang has been released on bail after appearing before the courts on drug charges.

Like the north inner city criminal now wanted in Spain, the man arrested here on Tuesday was also arrested last year in connection with the Bank of Ireland €7.6 million tiger robbery.

The 11 suspects linked to the Kinahan gang who were arrested in Britain on Tuesday have been released pending further inquiries.

Investigations are continuing in Ireland, Britain, Spain, Brazil, Dubai, South Africa, Cyprus and Belgium into the assets portfolio amassed by the Kinahan gang. Property valued at €500 million has been traced in Brazil, and 60 properties in Spain, valued at €150 million, have been frozen.

The international search operation on Tuesday, which involved 700 police officers, yielded two guns – in Britain and in Spain – as well as €100,000 in cash and a small quantity of cocaine here.

A large number of fake and blank passports were found in Spain. Documentation related to property purchases was seized in Britain, Spain and Ireland. There were more than 50 searches at residential addresses and at accountants and solicitors’s offices here.

Irish gangster held after international police sting

Dubliner Christy Kinahan arrested in Spain and accused of money laundering, drug dealing and arms smuggling

Henry McDonald, Ireland correspondent

guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 26 May 2010 14.07 BST

Article history

 Garda commissioner Fachtna Murphy briefs reporters after an international policing operation targeted a global crime network. Photograph: Julien Behal/PA

An Irish gangster accused of supplying drugs and guns to criminal gangs in British cities is in Spanish custody today, following an international operation involving 700 police officers.

Christy Kinahan, arrested in Spain early yesterday, used UK horseracing meetings to launder and distribute "dirty money" he earned from drug dealing and arms smuggling. He ran narcotics and weapons to criminal gangs in Liverpool, Manchester and London, Garda sources said today.

The arrest of Kinahan, 53, from Dublin, was one of a series of raids this week in Spain, the UK, Ireland, Brazil and Belgium aimed at smashing a global crime network. A total of 34 people are being held across Europe, including 10 Irish nationals in Spain, England and Ireland. Kinahan was arrested at his apartment near Marbella on the Costa del Sol.

Trevor Pearce from the UK's Serious Organised Crime Agency said the raids dealt a major blow to criminals across Europe. "We also believe this network has been offering a global investment service, ploughing hundreds of millions of pounds of dirty cash into offshore accounts, companies and property on behalf of criminals," he said.

Ireland's justice minister, Dermot Ahern, said moving abroad would no longer provide a haven for criminals wanted in Ireland. "These events are evidence of the determination of those involved in law enforcement, fully supported by their governments, to take international gangs straight on," he said.

Among those also arrested in Spain were John Cunningham, 58, an armed robber and drug dealer. He was convicted in 1986 for the kidnapping of one of the heirs to the Guinness family fortune, Jennifer Guinness.

Eleven properties in Spain were searched during the early morning raids, the details of which were disclosed today. Both Cunningham and Kinahan can be held without charge for up to two years under Spanish law.

In Dublin, 29 premises were searched and one man in his 20s arrested. The places targeted include a solicitor's and accountants' offices.

Gardai are examining a number of front companies that operate in Ireland, the UK and Spain that claim to export food from the Iberian peninsula but which detectives believe are being used to transport cannabis and cocaine into Britain and Ireland.

Two men are held in Don murder probe

Irish Herald

Tuesday May 25 2010

TWO members of a north Dublin gang were today arrested over the murder of mobster, Eamon Dunne.

One of the gang members was taken from Mountjoy prison by murder hunt detectives this morning.

It follows a major breakthrough in the case.

Detectives identified the men who bought the VW Passat used in the murder of Dublin drugs kingpin Dunne -- known as the Don.

The suspects, both in their 20s, are closely associated with a north inner city gang.

It's a massive breakthrough for gardai -- who are now confident of bringing all four killers to justice.

Detectives believe a number of gangs got together to kill Dunne.

Affairs

One of the reasons, sources said, for his murder was that he was carrying on affairs with other gang member's wives and girlfriends.

The arrests are the first in the month-long probe into Dunne's murder at the Faussagh House pub.

The pair are being held at Whitehall and Mountjoy garda stations and can be quizzed for up to 72 hours.

There were four men directly involved in the killing, with two gunmen entering the Faussagh House pub in Cabra before shooting Dunne (32) six times, three times as he lay on the ground.

He was sitting next to his teenage daughter at the time of the killing, on April 23 last. One was taken from Mountjoy Prison, it is understood, for the questioning while the other was picked up by gardai in the Dublin area.

The two suspects are in their 20s and are being held under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act and can be held and questioned for at least 72 hours.

Dunne’s murder is believed to have been the work of a ruthless young gang of thugs from the north Dublin inner city.

Dunne was one the country’s most notorious and ruthless criminals, who has been linked to more than a dozen murders.

He was shot in front of a pub full of people celebrating a birthday party.

Two men entered the pub, while another kept watch at the door and the fourth waited in the getaway vehicle.

The car was abandoned not far from the scene but an attempt to burn it out failed, leaving vital clues for gardai. It is understood that a glove was found in the car.

Gardai also carried out detailed forensic tests in the hope of finding DNA evidence.

A large team of detectives from across the city have been working on the case, which ranks among the most highprofile gangland killings ever in Ireland.

A post mortem revealed that he had been shot six times in the head and upper body from close range. The killer used a 9mm automatic pistol.

The Don’s death has also sparked fears of a turf war between his understudies who may want to take over the running of his lucrative drug empire.

Gardai have been investigating a number of motives for this murder.

Dunne had an extensive list of enemies in the Dublin underworld and would have crossed swords with not just rival gangs but also members of his own units.

He took control of the Finglas- based drugs outfit in 2006 following the murder of the notorious Martin Marlo Hyland.

It is widely believed that Dunne ordered that hit which also resulted in the slaying of innocent young plumber Anthony Campbell.

Dunne had been warned by gardaí his life was in danger and often wore a bullet-proof vest, but was said to be relaxed on the night of his death.

hnews@herald.ie

- Cormac Byrne and Kevin Doyle

Dozens arrested in international crackdown on British and Irish crime syndicate

Officers in Spain, Ireland, Belgium, Cyprus and Brazil launch dawn raids in 'major blow' to criminal activity in UK and Europe

Adam Gabbatt

guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 25 May 2010 15.43 BST

Police today arrested 32 people across Europe in a series of raids on British and Irish citizens suspected of masterminding an international drugs and firearms network.

Officers in Spain, Ireland and the UK launched simultaneous dawn raids in what the executive director of the UK's serious organised crime agency (Soca) described as a "major blow" to criminal activity in the UK and Europe.

Spanish National police arrested 20 people, including a British national living in Malaga and suspected of being the head of the international crime syndicate.

Irish-born Christopher Kinahan, known as Christy, was arrested at his villa in the Costa del Sol, where the criminal operation is believed to be based.

The 53-year-old's sons, Daniel and Christopher Junior, were also detained.

Soca said the 20 individuals arrested in Spain were being held for questioning at a police station in Malaga.

In the UK, about 230 officers searched businesses and homes, and arrested nine men and two women.

"This scale of this joint operation by law enforcement agencies from so many countries is an indication of how prolific we think this network was," Trevor Pearce, the Soca executive director, said.

"Today's arrests will have dealt a major blow to an organised criminal business suspected of supplying drugs and guns to gangs in cities across the UK and Europe."

It is believed the trafficking gang was also running a Europe-wide operation to launder cash through businesses in Ireland, Spain and the UK, and the import-export trade.

The investigation is said to have been building momentum for about two years.

Homes and businesses in Belgium, Cyprus and Brazil were also searched, Soca said.

In Ireland, 17 homes and businesses across greater Dublin and neighbouring Co Meath were raided, and a man in his 20s arrested on suspicion of drug trafficking.

Officers from the Garda national drugs unit were questioning the man at a police station in Dublin.

"Over a significant period of time, An Garda Siochana has engaged in the highest levels of co-operation and partnership with law enforcement colleagues in a number of key countries including the Spanish National police, Soca and the Belgians, culminating in today's operation," the Garda commissioner, Fachtna Murphy, said.

"The message from today's operation is clear – there is no hiding place for those who seek to bring misery and hurt to communities here in Ireland and abroad.

"If people choose to trade drugs and death across borders, police will work together across those same borders to address that challenge and disrupt criminal activity."

Rocket launchers and cocaine seized in raid on crime gang

Rocket launchers and cocaine seized in raid on crime gang

By Tom Brady Security Editor

Friday May 14 2010

TWO loaded rocket launchers seized from a crime gang by gardai yesterday are capable of destroying an armoured security van -- or even the homes of feuding gangsters.

The disposable launchers, which were seized along with a cocaine shipment in a raid by gardai, can be fired from the shoulder and discarded after being used only once.

The rockets, which had been fitted with warheads, were last night taken away by Army bomb disposal experts to the Glen of Imaal in Co Wicklow to be made safe.

The weapons had been stored by a major Dublin south city crime gang in a rented shed located at the rear of a block of five industrial units on the Clane road, at Longtown, Straffan, Co Kildare.

Armed officers from the organised crime unit raided the premises at 9.30am yesterday.

And they found the rockets -- one of which has been identified as a Russian-made RPG-22 -- an AK assault rifle and nine kilos of cocaine with a street value of between €700,000 and €800,000 hidden inside barrels.

The raid was part of Operation Lamp, which has been targeting members of a drug trafficking gang, based in the Crumlin area of Dublin.

Senior officers believe the gang had purchased the cocaine from one of the biggest suppliers to the Irish market -- a Crumlin-born criminal who fled to Spain more than two years ago as the gardai moved in on his operations.

The criminal, who is in his early 30s and has convictions here for assault and possession of a firearm with intent to rob, has been supplying shipments of drugs to his former associates in the south city since establishing himself in Spain.

It is the first time gardai have found rocket launchers in the possession of a criminal gang.

The seizure marks a significant upgrading of the type of weaponry now available to the drug traffickers. Some of the suspects have loose connections with one of the gangs involved in the Crumlin-Drimnagh feud.

Gardai were last night trying to establish if the shoulder-held rockets were to have been used against a rival outfit.

However, officers said it is also possible that the weapons -- which were notoriously difficult to fire on target when in the hands of terrorists during the troubles in Northern Ireland -- could have been used in a raid on a security vans carrying large amounts of cash and guarded by an Army escort.

Manufactured in the 1990s, the RPG-22 is said to be incapable of piercing a tank but could penetrate a cash in transit van or used as an assault weapon if attacking rival gangsters in a house.

Gardai believe both rocket-launchers were purchased by the drugs gang from either dissident republicans or as part of the cocaine consignment.

Shipments

They do not think they were part of the shipments of weaponry smuggled into the country by the Provisional IRA, prior to its ceasefire.

Three years ago a joint operation by gardai and the Serious Organised Crime Agency in Britain foiled an attempt to smuggle rocket launchers and other weapons into Ireland for the McCarthy-Dundon gang in Limerick.

The raid on the shed followed the seizure of another kilo of cocaine at the Naas Road, near Rathcoole, Co Dublin, on Thursday evening when the organised crime unit stopped two cars and detained four men.

The men, suspected of being members of the Crumlin gang, were being questioned last night at Clondalkin garda station under anti-drug trafficking legislation.

Follow-up searches in four houses resulted in the seizure of a kilo of cannabis and €16,000 in cash at a house in Glasnevin.

Two of the suspects are from Crumlin and one is alleged by gardai to be the "right hand man" here of the supplier in Spain.

The other two live in Glasnevin and Clonsilla and are suspected of being involved in the collection of a kilo of cocaine from other members of the gang.

The gang are believed to have moved their main storage depot to the shed outside Straffan because of increased garda patrols in the Crumlin area.

Gardai are also trying to establish if a Dublin criminal, now living outside Naas, was linked to the find.

- Tom Brady Security Editor

Irish Independent

Rocket launchers and cocaine seized in raid on crime gang

Sunday Independent

Friday May 14 2010

TWO loaded rocket launchers seized from a crime gang by gardai yesterday are capable of destroying an armoured security van -- or even the homes of feuding gangsters.

The disposable launchers, which were seized along with a cocaine shipment in a raid by gardai, can be fired from the shoulder and discarded after being used only once.

The rockets, which had been fitted with warheads, were last night taken away by Army bomb disposal experts to the Glen of Imaal in Co Wicklow to be made safe.

The weapons had been stored by a major Dublin south city crime gang in a rented shed located at the rear of a block of five industrial units on the Clane road, at Longtown, Straffan, Co Kildare.

Armed officers from the organised crime unit raided the premises at 9.30am yesterday.

And they found the rockets -- one of which has been identified as a Russian-made RPG-22 -- an AK assault rifle and nine kilos of cocaine with a street value of between €700,000 and €800,000 hidden inside barrels.

The raid was part of Operation Lamp, which has been targeting members of a drug trafficking gang, based in the Crumlin area of Dublin.

Senior officers believe the gang had purchased the cocaine from one of the biggest suppliers to the Irish market -- a Crumlin-born criminal who fled to Spain more than two years ago as the gardai moved in on his operations.

The criminal, who is in his early 30s and has convictions here for assault and possession of a firearm with intent to rob, has been supplying shipments of drugs to his former associates in the south city since establishing himself in Spain.

It is the first time gardai have found rocket launchers in the possession of a criminal gang.

The seizure marks a significant upgrading of the type of weaponry now available to the drug traffickers. Some of the suspects have loose connections with one of the gangs involved in the Crumlin-Drimnagh feud.

Gardai were last night trying to establish if the shoulder-held rockets were to have been used against a rival outfit.

However, officers said it is also possible that the weapons -- which were notoriously difficult to fire on target when in the hands of terrorists during the troubles in Northern Ireland -- could have been used in a raid on a security vans carrying large amounts of cash and guarded by an Army escort.

Manufactured in the 1990s, the RPG-22 is said to be incapable of piercing a tank but could penetrate a cash in transit van or used as an assault weapon if attacking rival gangsters in a house.

Gardai believe both rocket-launchers were purchased by the drugs gang from either dissident republicans or as part of the cocaine consignment.

Shipments

They do not think they were part of the shipments of weaponry smuggled into the country by the Provisional IRA, prior to its ceasefire.

Three years ago a joint operation by gardai and the Serious Organised Crime Agency in Britain foiled an attempt to smuggle rocket launchers and other weapons into Ireland for the McCarthy-Dundon gang in Limerick.

The raid on the shed followed the seizure of another kilo of cocaine at the Naas Road, near Rathcoole, Co Dublin, on Thursday evening when the organised crime unit stopped two cars and detained four men.

The men, suspected of being members of the Crumlin gang, were being questioned last night at Clondalkin garda station under anti-drug trafficking legislation.

Follow-up searches in four houses resulted in the seizure of a kilo of cannabis and €16,000 in cash at a house in Glasnevin.

Two of the suspects are from Crumlin and one is alleged by gardai to be the "right hand man" here of the supplier in Spain.

The other two live in Glasnevin and Clonsilla and are suspected of being involved in the collection of a kilo of cocaine from other members of the gang.

The gang are believed to have moved their main storage depot to the shed outside Straffan because of increased garda patrols in the Crumlin area.

Gardai are also trying to establish if a Dublin criminal, now living outside Naas, was linked to the find.

- Tom Bray Security Editor