Kinahan cartel: Sanctions will deal 'heavy blow' to activities

Worldwide financial sanctions targeting the Kinahan crime cartel will deal a "heavy blow" to their activities, Ireland's police chief has said.

Irish, American and British law enforcement have launched coordinated action against the Irish organised crime group.

A reward of up to $5m (£3.84m) has also been offered by the US for information on the three most senior members.

In total, seven members and three associated businesses are targeted.

Daniel Kinahan, 44, has previously been named in the Irish courts as the head of one of Europe's most prominent drug gangs.

His father Christopher Snr, 65, and brother Christopher Jnr, 41, were also placed on an Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) list.

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They are among the seven members of the Kinahan cartel targeted by the OFAC.

On Tuesday, US Ambassador to Ireland Claire Cronin said a reward of up to $5m was being offered for information which leads to the financial disruption of the group or the arrest or conviction of Christopher Kinahan Snr, Daniel Kinahan or Christopher Kinahan Jnr.

Tyson Fury thanked Daniel Kinahan for organising a fight with then world champion Anthony Joshua in 2021

Daniel Kinahan has previously worked as an advisor to boxer Tyson Fury and is a co-founder of the MTK Global agency, which represents a number of boxing's top fighters, including Fury and Michael Conlan.

Mr Kinahan said he cut ties with the company in 2017.

While Mr Kinahan claims to no longer be associated with the agency, last year Fury expressly thanked him for organising a high-profile bout with then world champion Anthony Joshua.

Speaking about the sanctions, Garda (Irish police) Commissioner Drew Harris said this was just the "first phase" in the work to tackle the Kinahan gang.

He said the enforcement measures would deal a "heavy blow if not a crippling blow" to the gang, which the UK's National Crime Agency has said is responsible for dealing drugs and firearms around the world for more than 20 years.

"It is a demonstration of the strength of resolve amongst all of us to put an end to a gang that has caused so much destruction and death here and abroad," Commissioner Harris said at a press conference in Dublin on Tuesday.

The Garda Commissioner Drew Harris has rightly described today as "a landmark day" in the fight against the Kinahans and organised crime.

The Kinahan family became household names after their feud - which has claimed at least 18 lives - with the rival Hutch gang.

The most notorious incident was the Hutch attack on a boxing weigh-in six years ago.

The Kinahans are now based in the United Arab Emirates, which has no extradition with the Republic of Ireland and that may have led them to think they were beyond reach.

US ambassador to Ireland Claire Cronin says a reward of up to $5m is being offered for information on the gang

But the American action today may have changed that with the three main members of the family's criminal enterprise now subject to the same enforcement measures as Russian oligarchs associated with the Putin regime arising from the war in Ukraine.

In recent years, Daniel Kinahan, one of those sanctioned, has sought to launder his reputation by involvement in boxing.

On Tuesday, police forces in Ireland and Britain told those associated with him that they can no longer be in any doubt about him and his family's activities.

They also said that those sportsmen should now consider their own reputations and those of their sports and its fans.

The commissioner said the gang had started life as south inner city Dublin drug dealers, but had grown to become a "transnational crime cartel involved in a wide range of criminality that is estimated to have generated over €1bn for them".

"All of it leaving countless victims of violence and addiction across the world in their wake," he added.

What is the Kinahan cartel?

For over 20 years the group has been responsible for importing tonnes of drugs and firearms around the world, the National Crime Agency (NCA) says.

The NCA says the crime group is linked to over a dozen gangland murders.

The US Treasury Department describes the Kinahan cartel as one of the most dangerous in the world, comparable to crime organisations like Italy's Camorra, Mexico's Los Zetas and Japan's Yakuza.

According to Gardaí (Irish police) Commissioner Drew Harris, the gang is estimated to have made over €1bn (£836,590,000) globally from its activities.

Last month, Thomas Kavanagh, who the NCA says ran the group's criminal operations in the UK, was jailed for 21 years alongside Gary Vickery and Daniel Canning, who were sentenced to 20 years and 19 and a half years respectively.

The NCA says evidence shows they were responsible for cocaine imports estimated to be up to £23.4m, and cannabis imports worth about £6.4m.

The US Department of the Treasury said that as a result of the action being taken against the named people and businesses, "all property and interests in property of the designated individuals or entities that are in the United States or in the possession or control of US persons must be blocked and reported to" the OFAC.

The group is suspected of involvement in a feud with a rival Dublin gang that has resulted in 18 people being murdered.

Daniel Kinahan's lawyer told BBC Panorama last year he has no criminal record or convictions and the allegations about him being a crime boss are false and have no evidential basis.