THE MAN at the centre of the Irish-led international drug trafficking and money-laundering network targeted yesterday has drug and money laundering convictions in Ireland, the Netherlands and Belgium.
Christy Kinahan (53), has had Irish addresses at York Street and St Teresa’s Gardens in Dublin’s inner city, as well as at Cabra, Phibsboro and Fairview, all on the north side of the city. He is not a household name, but is well known in media and policing circles and has been regarded for some time as perhaps the biggest wholesaler of illicit drugs for Irish crime gangs.
He has amassed a personal fortune of well over €100 million in the last decade through drug-dealing and investing and laundering the proceeds of his crimes.
Regarded as one of the cleverest Irish criminals involved in the international drugs trade, he speaks several foreign languages, including Dutch and Spanish. During a prison term in the 1990s he studied for a degree course in French and refused temporary release so he could complete it.
In March 1987 he was jailed for six years after pleading guilty to possessing heroin valued at £117,000. He told the court he was a heroin addict and was trying to turn his life around by studying in prison. In March 1998 he was jailed for four years after he was found in possession of £16,000 in stolen travellers’ cheques.
Kinahan, a separated father of three, also has convictions for forgery and for possession of cannabis. He served at least one of his sentences in the State’s maximum security prison in Portlaoise. He was released from his last prison sentence in 2001 and is believed to have left for Spain within months.
He has a villa near Marbella worth €6 million, and also regularly uses a nearby apartment worth €800,000.
He is a high-stakes gambler and is also suspected of involvement in fixing horse races he bets on.
On moving to Spain eight years ago he immediately established international drug-dealing contacts there. He began sourcing massive drug shipments from Colombian, Spanish and north African cartels for sale to Irish criminals.
He has served jail sentences in the Netherlands. He was also recently convicted of money laundering in Belgium, and jailed for four years. However, he was granted bail pending an appeal, which was due to be heard next month. He was arrested in Belgium in May 2008 after authorities there traced cash and assets owned by him to the value of €2.5 million. Following his arrest in his apartment near Marbella yesterday he can be detained for up to two years without charge.