Authorities in the United Arab Emirates handed over alleged transnational cartel boss Daniel Kinahan to face trial in Ireland, the Gulf country’s official media reported on Sunday. The 49-year-old Irishman allegedly ran a group out of Dubai that has been linked by U.S. and European authorities to a vast criminal enterprise dealing in drug smuggling and money laundering. The report published by the Emirates News Agency said justice ministers from the Gulf state and Ireland discussed Kinahan’s extradition during a recent phone call. Kinahan “was extradited by the UAE to the Irish authorities at their formal request to face prosecution for offences related to transnational organised crime, including allegations of leading a criminal organisation, murder and illicit drug trafficking,” said the report. Kinahan was arrested in Dubai in April after a warrant was issued in Ireland for “alleged serious organised crime offences” and lost appeals against extradition. Irish national broadcaster RTE reported his extradition flight had departed the UAE earlier Sunday but did not specify what time it was due to land at Casement Aerodrome in Baldonnel. On arrival in Ireland, Kinahan was expected to be taken to the Special Crime Court in Dublin amid a large security operation, according to an earlier RTE report. The transnational group, known as the Kinahan Organised Crime Group (KOCG), is alleged to be the most powerful criminal organisation in Ireland with wealth estimated by Irish police at over 1 billion euros (£856 million). Kinahan would be the second senior figure in the cartel to be extradited from Dubai. Sean McGovern, described by a judge as “senior lieutenant in the cartel”, was the first senior associate to be extradited after his arrest in 2024. In June, he was sentenced to 24 years in prison in Ireland after pleading guilty to directing organised crime and attempted murder. The case related to a long-running violent feud between the Kinahan cartel and the rival Dublin-based Hutch gang. The US government in 2022 imposed sanctions on Kinahan and other members of his family identified as leaders of the cartel. It designated them as running a narcotics trafficking organisation active in Ireland, the United Kingdom and throughout mainland Europe, and engaging in “money laundering, firearms trafficking, and murder”. The US Treasury said Kinahan was believed to run the cartel’s day-to-day operations, while his brother Christopher was also designated.
