A CONVICTED Irish drug dealer regarded as the biggest supplier of drugs to crime gangs here is being questioned by police in Spain after his arrest and that of 33 other people in an international operation involving 700 police officers in five countries.
Dubliner Christy Kinahan, a 53-year-old father of three, was the key target in the raids in Spain, Ireland, the UK, Brazil and Belgium that began at 4.30am yesterday.
Garda Commissioner Fachtna Murphy said the arrests showed Irish criminals were mistaken if they believed by relocating to Spain they could evade capture.
“This is an extensive and focused investigation targeting drug trafficking, money laundering and firearms crime.”
Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern said borders would not protect organised crime gangs.
“[These] events are evidence of the determination of those involved in law enforcement, fully supported by their governments, to take international gangs straight on.”
Trevor Pearce of the UK’s Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) said the raids were a major blow to a key gang supplying drugs and guns across Europe.
“We also believe this network has been offering a global investment service, ploughing hundreds of millions of pounds of dirty cash into offshore accounts, companies and property on behalf of criminals.”
The international drug trafficking and money laundering investigation has found evidence that Kinahan and his associates have built a property portfolio worth in excess of €150 million. The properties are in Ireland, Spain, Dubai, South Africa, Brazil, Belgium, England and Cyprus and will most likely now be confiscated.
Kinahan and his associates arrested in Spain can be held for up to two years without charge. Four Spanish solicitors were also arrested, in the operation code-named Operation Shovel.
A total of 34 people were being held last night, including 10 Irish nationals, in Spain, England and Ireland. Kinahan was arrested in an apartment near Marbella in southern Spain.
Also arrested there was his close criminal associate, Dubliner John Cunningham. The 58-year-old convicted armed robber and drug dealer was convicted and jailed for the Jennifer Guinness kidnapping in 1986.
Seven other Irishmen were arrested in Spain, all of whom are considered members of Kinahan’s gang. Some 11 properties were searched in Spain and cars and financial records were seized. In the UK nine gang members were arrested.
One man in his 20s was arrested in Dublin’s north inner city and a total of 29 premises were searched here. The searches were carried out at residential and business premises in Dublin city, Finglas and in Ashbourne. They included solicitors’ and accountants’ offices from which gardaí took financial and property investment records.
The man arrested in Ireland was arrested in recent months in connection with a tiger kidnapping in Dublin last year in which over €7 million was stolen from the Bank of Ireland in College Green, Dublin.
The offices of financial and legal professionals were also searched in Spain, the UK, Brazil and Belgium.
The international investigation led by the Garda National Drug Unit also involved the Criminal Assets Bureau and Organised Crime Unit as well as police units in the other jurisdictions. A team of Irish drugs officers was in Spain yesterday for the co-ordinated raids.
Gardaí believe the Kinahan property portfolio, which includes pubs, houses, apartments and cash-based retail businesses, has been funded by the proceeds of supplying the Irish and British drugs market.
Small front companies were set up in Ireland, the UK and Spain on the pretence of exporting foodstuffs from Spain. The companies have small fleets of trucks here and in England and small warehouses.
Gardaí believe the vehicles were used to transport multimillion-euro cannabis and cocaine shipments from Spain to Ireland and the UK.