DANIEL KINAHAN HAS failed in his bid to block his extradition to Ireland and now will be brought home to face trial in Ireland.

Kinahan, 49, was arrested in Dubai in April on foot of a warrant issued by the Irish courts in relation to alleged serious organised crime offences.

At the time Dubai Police said they had arrested an “Irish fugitive for his alleged role in an international organised crime network”.

The Irish State and authorities in the United Arab Emirates had entered into an agreement to extradite alleged Irish crime figure back to Ireland. 

Kinahan, however, lodged an appeal against the extradition, but that process has now failed and he is now anticipated to be back in Dublin in the coming weeks. 

Ireland also recently succeeded in getting Kinahan lieutenant Sean McGovern back to Ireland, where he pleaded guilty at the Special Criminal Court to directing a criminal organisation. 

Ireland and the UAE established a bilateral extradition treaty in 2024, which came into effect in May of last year.

At McGovern’s case at the Special Criminal Court, the court heard that the Kinahan group are involved at an international level in importing drugs and in their distribution at street level.

They enforce their control “by violence, using firearms and murder”, the court heard. 

Senior leadership has been based in Dubai, with other cells in mainland Europe and South America, while some cells remain in Ireland, the court heard. 

In 2021, Daniel Kinahan denied he was involved in crime and insisted he was a “legitimate businessman”.

State operation 

The operation to bring Kinahan back to Ireland will involve both gardaí and military personnel. 

McGovern was brought home on the cargo variant of the Irish Air Corps Airbus 295 but the issue with that mode of transport is that it must stop at least twice en route to refuel.

The other option is the new Government Jet, which has the capacity to make the journey in a day.

A security detail will accompany gardaí, potentially from the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau and Extradition Unit. The security team will likely be drawn from the Garda Emergency Response Unit or the Army Ranger Wing. 

The flight will most likely land in the Air Corps base in Baldonnel after which Ireland’s most high profile alleged gang boss will be taken directly to a sitting of the Special Criminal Court.