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CRIME

Senior Irish cartel suspect arrested in Spain: UK police

A senior member of an Irish transnational crime gang has been arrested in Spain for suspected gun running, Britain's National Crime Agency (NCA) announced on Monday.

Senior Irish cartel suspect arrested in Spain: UK police
Senior Irish cartel suspect arrested in Spain: UK police. Photo: Josep LAGO / AFP

Liam Byrne, 42, from Dublin – described by the UK law enforcement agency as “one of the most trusted members of the Kinahan organised crime group” – was arrested in Spain on Sunday evening.

Based out of Dubai, the Kinahan cartel, led by Irishman Daniel Kinahan among others, has been linked by US and European authorities to a vast criminal enterprise encompassing drug smuggling and money laundering.

Byrne was arrested while he ate with family in a restaurant on the Spanish island of Mallorca.

He had flown into the Mediterranean holiday destination from the UAE on May 26th.

Another suspected member of the crime group, Jack Kavanagh, 22, from Tamworth, central England, was also held by Spanish police for firearms offences on May 30 as he transitted through Malaga from Dubai.

“This investigation is part of the NCA’s ongoing work targeting the Kinahan crime group,” said Kay Mellor regional head of investigations at the NCA, which investigates serious and organised crime.

“Liam Byrne and Jack Kavanagh have been evading justice for a number of years, but have now been arrested in relation to serious firearms offences.

“We… will continue to work closely with our international partners to ensure those who think they can stay under the radar have no place to hide,” she added.

Irish assistant police commissioner Justin Kelly called Byrne’s arrest a “particularly significant development in the efforts of international law enforcement to dismantle the operations of the Kinahan organised crime group”.

The NCA said the arrests in Mallorca followed an “intelligence-led investigation” supported by the Spanish National Police and officers from An Garda Siochana in Ireland.

Byrne and Kelly remain in custody as extradition proceedings against them continue.

In September last year, Spanish police arrested a British-Irish suspect believed to have moved 200 million in illicit cash for the Kinahans.

In April 2022 the US Treasury Department placed sanctions on senior Kinahan gang members prompting the UAE to follow suit shortly afterwards.

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CRIME

Europol bust cocaine gang with arrests in Marbella and Canary Islands

Europol said Thursday that a crime ring smuggling drugs into Europe had collapsed as the result of an investigation involving 40 arrests and the seizure of eight tonnes of cocaine.

Europol bust cocaine gang with arrests in Marbella and Canary Islands

The Hague-based European police force said the entire cartel, whose leaders were based in Turkey and Dubai, had been dealt a major blow after a final set of arrests Wednesday.

The vast three-year-long operation involved police forces from a dozen countries and ranged from Brazil to Spain via Turkey.

According to Europol, the final phase of the operation began with the discovery in August 2023 by the Spanish Guardia Civil of 700 kilos (1,540 pounds)of cocaine in a boat off the Canary Islands, crewed by Croat and Italian citizens.

After exchanging their findings with other police forces, the investigators found links with previous seizures which led to the identification of the masterminds.

In all, 40 people were arrested in six countries, including two top Croat members of the network, who were arrested at the end of 2023 in Istanbul, police said.

The last four arrests took place on Wednesday in Spain, according to Europol.

In one operation witnessed by an AFP journalist, heavily armed members of Spain’s Guardia Civil arrested a 40-year-old man at dawn at his home near Marbella, a seaside resort popular with drug traffickers.

The smugglers shipped cocaine from South America to logistical hubs in west Africa and the Canary Islands.

The drugs were then sent on to centres in Belgium, Croatia, Germany, Italy and Spain for distribution across Europe.

Many of the drug network’s assets, with a total value of several tens of millions of euros, had been seized or frozen, Europol added.

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