A man named as a key member of the Kinahan cartel, and placed under sanctions by US authorities earlier this year, was in a Spanish prison on Wednesday night after being arrested on charges of laundering money for the crime group.
Johnny Morrissey was among seven criminals — including cartel founder Christy Kinahan and his sons Daniel and Christopher Jnr — targeted when the sanctions were imposed by the US Department of the Treasury in April.
He is the first member of the cartel’s leadership to be arrested since the measures were announced by the American authority, which said Morrissey was close to cartel leader Daniel Kinahan and invited to his wedding in Dubai in 2017.
Morrissey’s arrest on Monday, news of which had not emerged previously, was viewed as very significant by gardaí and is the first clear public sign of progress in the international investigation into the cartel, which saw most of its senior figures flee Spain seven years ago and move to Dubai.
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Detectives from six different police forces, including the Spanish Civil Guard, An Garda Síochána and the US Drug Enforcement Agency, took part in the operation which resulted in the arrest of Morrissey and two other people on the Costa del Sol.
The 62-year-old has already appeared before the courts in Spain and was remanded in custody, along with another man, after a hearing on Wednesday. A woman arrested at the same time has since been released.
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When imposing financial sanctions on seven figures at the top of the Kinahan gang, the US department said Morrissey has “worked for the [cartel] for several years, including as an enforcer”. It said he “facilitates international drug shipments for the organisation from South America” and was also “involved in money laundering”.
It is further stated that he was the owner or controller, either directly or indirectly, of the Scottish-based Nero Drinks Company Ltd, which sells luxury alcoholic drinks and is one of the three companies now on the US sanctions list.
Morrissey, an Irish passport holder who has lived in the Malaga region in recent years, had, according to the department, “given a significant portion of the business to Daniel Kinahan to compensate for loads of drugs seized by law enforcement”.
It said that Morrissey controlled the business through his wife, who was the primary shareholder and “is used as a frontperson for his interests”.
The department said as a result of the action taken against the people and businesses named in the sanctions, “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 office of foreign assets control.
