DUBLIN CRIMINAL Christy Kinahan has been extradited from Spain to Belgium where he faces a four-year jail term.
The 53-year-old was flown out of Madrid in handcuffs last week after a Spanish judge agreed to an extradition request. Kinahan was convicted of 10 counts of money laundering in Belgium in 2009 but was allowed to return to Spain after lodging an appeal. He was arrested on July 6th in Estepona on the Costa del Sol on a warrant issued by the Belgian authorities.
Kinahan agreed to be extradited when he appeared before a judge at Madrid’s National Court two days later. But he was held in a Madrid jail for more than a month while the judge considered the request from Belgium.
The extradition was delayed because Kinahan is being investigated in Spain over claims he ran a massive drug trafficking and money laundering organisation.
His passport had been confiscated as part of his €60,000 bail conditions and he was ordered to sign on regularly at the court in Estepona investigating his alleged crimes. The judge at the extradition hearing in Madrid delayed his ruling to consult the investigating magistrate.
A court source said: “The judge wanted to make sure the investigating magistrate in Estepona had no objections to Kinahan leaving the country to serve his sentence in Belgium. One of his bail conditions in Spain was that he was not allowed to leave the country.”