Daniel Kinahan has been arrested in Dubai

DANIEL KINAHAN HAS been arrested by police in the UAE.

A Garda spokesperson said the force was aware of “the arrest of an Irish national in the United Arab Emirates”. Multiple sources have told The Journal the person is the alleged organised crime boss Daniel Kinahan.

He was arrested on foot of a warrant issued by the Irish courts in relation to alleged serious organised crime offences.

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

“Dubai public prosecution issued an arrest warrant to initiate legal procedures ahead of his extradition,” a police spokesperson said.

“Specialised teams immediately launched intensive search and surveillance operations, leading to the suspect’s capture within 48 hours of the warrant being issued.”

Kinahan will be taken to Ireland, The Journal understands, but there is now a process to go through, during which he has a right to contest his extradition.

Today’s arrest comes after a senior member of the Kinahan Cartel was arrested in the UAE last year.

Sean McGovern, the first person to be extradited to Ireland from the UAE, pleaded guilty at the Special Criminal Court to directing a criminal organisation in March.

Ireland and the UAE established a bilateral extradition treaty in 2024 that was negotiated by former justice minister Helen McEntee and came into effect in May of last year.

When McGovern appeared at the Special Criminal Court last month, 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. 

The 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. 

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

A senior member of the notorious Commora crime gang in Naples, Raffaele Imperiale, and Dutch-Moroccan crime group leader Ridouan Taghi have previously been extradited from Dubai. 

Both men are close associates of Kinahan and members of an organisation known as the European Cartel. They also attended his wedding in Dubai in 2017.

In 2022, authorities in the United States offered rewards totalling $15 million for information that would bring Christy Kinahan Senior, the founder of the cartel, and his sons Christy Kinahan Junior and Daniel Kinahan, to justice. 

At the time, a US government official said the Kinahans had joined the ranks of the Camorra (Italian mafia), the Yakuza organised crime group in Japan and the Russian mafia.

The US Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence at the time, Brian E. Nelson, said the cartel “smuggles deadly narcotics, including cocaine, to Europe, and is a threat to the entire licit economy through its role in international money laundering”.

“Criminal groups like the KOCG (Kinahan Organised Crime Group) prey on the most vulnerable in society and bring drug-related crime and violence, including murder, to the countries in which they operate.”

An Garda Síochána said in a statement following Kinahan’s arrest today it has been “steadfast” in the pursuit of those allegedly involved in serious organised crime, “wherever they go”.

“Today’s arrest is another extremely important demonstration of the need for international law enforcement co-operation in tackling transnational organised crime,” it said.

Gardaí have developed “many major international partnerships”, including with the authorities in the UAE, it said. 

Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan said today’s arrest follows an extradition request he sent to the authorities in the UAE.

“I have spoken today with my UAE counterpart Minister of Justice, His Excellency Abdullah Sultan bin Awad Al Nuaimi, to express my thanks and to acknowledge the strong judicial co-operation in criminal matters between Ireland and the UAE,” he said in a statement this evening.

“I would like to commend all involved in today’s development, which is the result of tireless work by the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, officials in the Department of Justice with their UAE counterparts, the Department of Foreign Affairs and other agencies.”

Kinahan was not named in the Garda statement or by the minister.

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