Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
THE HEAD OF Interpol’s organised crime section has said that the international agency will not give up on efforts to extradite Christy and Daniel Kinahan from Dubai.
This week is the 10-year anniversary of the murder of David Byrne at the former Regency Hotel. Gardaí believe it was carried out by the Hutch Organised Crime Group in response to the murder of one of their associates in Spain.
Organised crime figure Byrne was shot dead by an assassin dressed as a member of An Garda Síochána. The intended target of the hit team was Daniel Kinahan, who was at the boxing weigh-in when the gunmen burst in.
The State has not succeeded in getting a conviction for Byrne’s murder but multiple people have been imprisoned for their involvement in the Kinahan strike back. One of those who was indicted for the Byrne killing was Gerry ‘The Monk’ Hutch but he was cleared by the non-jury Special Criminal Court in April, 2023.
David Caunter, director of the organised and emerging crimes bureau, was speaking to The Journal at the Interpol’s headquarters in Lyon, France. The organisation, which acts as the primary conduit for police cooperation globally, has been working closely with the gardaí and the EU’s Europol to investigate the Kinahans and attempt to bring them to justice.
Caunter, who has worked as an American Drugs Enforcement Agency (DEA) agent, said that it is a dedicated focus for his unit to bring about the end of the Kinahan Organised Crime Group (KOCG).
Caunter said that the arrest and extradition of Seán McGovern directly involved Interpol as the body had issued a red notice. He has arrived in Ireland and is due to stand trial in the Special Criminal Court for murder.
McGovern, 39, is charged with a number of offences including the 2016 murder of Noel ‘Duck Egg’ Kirwan, an associate of the Hutch family.
McGovern has been accused by gardaí of being a leading member of the KOCG and had been on the run in Dubai. He had been shot during the Regency incident.
Caunter said “the pressure is still on” and Interpol and other international agencies were working with the gardaí to extradite other members of the gang. He said it was the first time Ireland had used the agency’s red notice for a wanted person. A red notice is an international alert request issued by Interpol to police forces to arrest a suspect.
“There’s full commitment from law enforcement around the globe to bring the Kinahans to justice. I’m quite familiar, of course, with that from my previous job but also in this job, and we’re trying to use all the tools that are available to do that.
“So as I said, it was a great success, great work by the United Arab Emirates, by Ireland, to get McGovern.
“I believe it was the first ever red notice issued by the government of Ireland. So we’re going to continue to push that and continue to work with the partners,” he said.
When asked directly by The Journal if he believed we would see Daniel and Christy Kinahan Senior extradited back to Ireland, he added: “We’ll keep trying.
“I know there’s a lot of commitment, from all the law enforcement involved, to bring them to justice.”
Sources have said that Interpol has been key to getting Irish officials and gardaí access to the right people in the United Arab Emirates.
Ireland has bilateral arrangements with the UAE but it is understood that the power of Interpol’s reach opened doors in the Emirates to Irish investigators.
The international diplomatic pressure is on to resolve the issue of Kinahan crime and it is understood that multiple states, including the United States, Netherlands and Britain, are interested in their file.
Caunter said he and his team are working on operations to counter a wide array of organised crime activities.
These include scam centres and organised crime fraud groups, stolen cultural property. He said there is currently a huge global trade in stolen vehicles, particularly from Britain, Japan, Canada and the US to the Sahel region in Africa, the Middle East and Russia.
Some of the motivations for the illegal smuggling of pickup trucks and other cars is to navigate around sanctions on regimes, but also they are potentially being used by terrorist groups, Caunter said.
The last time we met the Irish American investigator was during the aftermath of the MV Matthew cocaine seizure in which he and his team played a critical role. Eight men, from Ukraine, Iran and the UK were sentenced to lengthy jail terms for their part in the mission.
Caunter said Interpol is continuing to see the flow of cocaine from South America into Europe. He explained that they anticipate there will be a change in smuggling routes in the wake of the US action in Venezuela.
He said that the gangs are exploiting different routes into Europe and the different strategy will likely mean that the gangs begin to focus more on trafficking from countries such as Suriname and Guyana.
He said they are also monitoring fast boats being used by a gang into Ireland. The vessel had been modified to avoid detection. He said this is also a change in tactics by the smuggling gangs.
Caunter said that there are signs that terrorist groups are operating with drugs gangs but that it is most likely because they are in the black market ecosystem already.
“What I can say is, you know the term Narco terrorist, right? There’s a reason for that.
“These guys are operating in some of the same parts of the world, a lot. Terrorist groups need profit to operate. Historically, drug trafficking has been one of the ways that these criminal groups get profit. You also see the crossover with the violence – the weapons, the explosives.
“One thing we have seen, not only here in Europe, Scandinavia, but also in Latin America is the increase in the use of military-style weapons, and then also, like explosives and hand grenades and things like that in recent years. So that’s troubling. It’s a very blurred line between the two groups,” he added.
While the traditional drugs of cocaine, heroin and cannabis are still popular, he is seeing a rise in the use of synthetic drugs such as nitazene in Ireland and Britain.
Caunter described Interpol as a law enforcement connector that establishes links between countries whose governments or authorities do not routinely engage. He said the agency works as a “neutral interlocutor”.
“These [crime] groups are looking to maximize profit, minimize risk, diversify their holdings, and they’re looking for those emerging markets. They are continuing to pivot and react, and we have to do the same thing.
“That’s where Interpol really fills that void and helps countries. We don’t take away from any bilateral work that is being done, or regional work but we’re a force multiplier.
“We want to rescue victims, we want to arrest bad guys and we want to seize contraband,” he added.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say