Stephen Dempster and Tim Robinson
BBC News NI
Paul Williams/Stephen Breen
(LR) Daniel Kinnahan, Christopher Kinnahan SNR, Christopher Kinnahan JNR
The extent to which the Irish Kinahan Cartel flooded British streets with drugs and guns has been revealed by police.
The UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) said the cartel had been sitting in a “upstream” position to supply British criminal gangs for 20 years.
Irish police also estimate that the majority of the drugs Kinahan has shipped from mainland Europe are destined to the UK. Such estimates make the cartel (thought to be worth 1 billion euros (£835 million)) one of the UK’s biggest drug suppliers of all time.
However, the Kinaghan lawyers said that “rumorrows” and “theories” about them have not been tested in court.
The revelation is made up of a new BBC Northern Ireland four-part documentary series on criminal families.
Kinahan: The true story of the Irish mafia tracked the cartel from its inception as a small road trade operation in Dublin in the 1980s, and became a reputation as one of the most feared and infamous criminal organizations in the world.
Padraig O’Reilly
Christopher “Christie” Kinahan Sr. was arrested in Dublin in 1997
In recent years, law enforcement has suggested that so-called supercartels, including the Kinahans, and some of Europe’s biggest criminal organizations, dominate a third of the European cocaine market.
In 2022, the US provided a $5 million (£3.9 million) reward for information about each leader of suspected Kinahan Cartel.
Claire Cronin, the US ambassador to Ireland at the time, said, “Criminal organizations that cross the border are accused of a wide range of violent crimes around the world, including murder, firearm trafficking and drugs.”
Kinahan: The true story of the Irish mafia is now available on BBC IPlayer
One reason why the US is believed to have approved Kinahan is that they are reportedly doing business with Islamic extremist group Hezbollah.
Law enforcement says Hezbollah is a key player in the international drug trade, drug movement and the provision of money laundering services to raise funds.
Gregory Gitjanis, former associate director of the U.S. Treasury Department, said Kinahans are also using the US financial system to carry out crimes.
He added: “We needed to protect the US financial system, a criminal organization that was dominant and violent.
“It had a global reach. It had an impact on our European allies, and we saw this as an ideal opportunity to target them.”
In the documentary series, British and Irish police (including secret agents) speak only about the threat posed by the Kinahan organization.
With the help of secret recordings and police surveillance footage, there is a new revelation about the operations carried out to dismantle the structures of British and Irish cartels.
In particular, the NCA targeted the British division of the Kinahan Cartel, based in the town of Tamworth, outside Birmingham.
Collins
Thomas Cabana has been described by the National Crime Agency as the “European CEO” of the “Drug Trafficking Network.”
At this stage, the Kinahhan family moved to Dubai.
But in Tamworth there was Thomas “Bomber” Cabana.
An NCA investigator said, “Looking at the Kinahan Organized Crime Group and the hierarchies within it, he rated Thomas Cabana as extremely advanced, probably under Daniel Kinahan and effectively the CEO of its drug trafficking network.”
To tackle the cartel, police in the UK and Ireland believe that they have to stop Cabana, and the series revealed how they set it up to do this.
In 2022, Cabana was jailed for 21 years for importing tens of millions of pounds of drugs and money laundering.
“We are pleased to announce that we are a surgeon, and we are a sought after study at the NCA Regional Research Officer.
“They are drug smugglers, traded for firearms, and I have no doubt in my heart that they will supply many other British criminal groups.”
The cartel is understood to have ties to gangs in Liverpool, Glasgow, Manchester, Belfast and other cities.
Solarpix
Daniel Kinahhan was arrested in 2010 as part of Operation Shovel
For more than a decade, “Ireland has only represented about 25% of its operations,” said Sheemus Boland, head of Ireland’s National Bureau of Drugs and Organized Crime.
“About 75% of their business and their money was actually generated in the UK,” he added.
This is the first time police have been recorded on how big Kinahan crime groups have become in the UK.
More than 80 cartel members have been jailed as a result of the NCA, particularly the Ireland Operation Garda.
US Treasury Department
In 2022, the US provided $5 million (£3.9 million) rewards for information about each leader of suspected Kinahan Cartel
While law enforcement agencies around the world have publicly appointed the Kinahan Cartel, Kinahan lawyers pointed out that a “large investigation” by five countries ended with the dismissal of key accusations against them.
Kinahan: The true story of the Irish mafia is produced by the BBC Northern Ireland.
The first three episodes are now available on BBC Iplayer.
Episode 1 will air on BST on BBC One Ni on March 31st.
