Dubai-based senior members of the Kinahan drug trafficking and gun running cartel have been targeted by the Criminal Assets Bureau and other Garda units in a series of coordinated raids.
A large quantity of documentation and electronic devices suspected of containing financial records were seized in the operation in Co Dublin, Meath and Waterford on Thursday.
While most of the raids were focussed on private homes, gardaí also raided the offices of a company that supplies professional services required when purchasing property.
The man at the centre of the raids is based in Ireland where he lives and works. However, gardaí have financially profiled him and have determined the cost of his foreign travel alone exceeds his declared income.
Gardaí believe this man, who is in his 30s and is from Dublin but lives outside the capital, is close to leadership figures in the Kinahan cartel based in Dubai.
And detectives are now trying to determine if the man is being used by those gang leaders to invest in property in the Republic.
The raids that took place on Thursday were intended to gather up as much financial documentation as possible on property deals and the movement of money that Cab suspects is linked to Kinahan cartel members in Dubai.
Cab officers believe those transactions represent the laundering of the proceeds of the Kinahan cartel’s drug dealing.
One property was search in Co Meath, four were searched in Dublin and one in Waterford in the operation led by Cab but involving a number of other Garda units.
The Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau was also involved and, along with Cab, it was backed by the Emergency Response Unit (ERU) and Garda Special Crime Task Force. The dog units of the Garda and Revenue were also used during the operation.
In an unrelated operation by Cab, which also took place on Thursday morning, the bureau’s officers moved in on two criminals in Co Limerick and seized two vehicles - a brand new Audi only delivered in recent weeks and a 182 registered Ford van.
The men targeted are members of a crime faction that has been travelling around the country to commit well-planned robberies.
The bureau had gone before the High Court on an earlier date and obtained warrants to seize the vehicles on the basis they represent the proceeds of crime.
The owners of the car and van must now present a case to the court explaining how the vehicles were financed with legitimate income.
If they are unable to do so the vehicles can be sold by Cab and the proceeds of their sale added to the State’s coffers.
