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CRIMINALS BELONGING TO a number of Dublin gangs are attempting to use the horse racing industry to move and launder money generated by weapons and drugs sales, the TheJournal.ie has learned.
Over the last three months, officers for the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) acting on specific intelligence have launched investigations against a number of men who either part-own horses or have been known to try to intimidate jockeys and trainers.
While one of these is solely a CAB investigation, the other involves detective units and revolves around a horse-training facility whose grounds, gardaí believe, are being used to either stash vacuum-packed bales of money or hide guns.
The man who owns this centre is part of a criminal outfit which runs an intimidatory protection business in Dublin city. (In many cases, when a business sets up in certain pockets of the city, criminal gangs will ask that money be handed over as ‘protection’. If the owner refuses, then their new business could be under threat from local gangs.)
In two cases this year, officers stopped horses from being moved to other jurisdictions where they were to be sold. They managed to halt the sale of the horses using Criminal Assets Bureau legislation.
Officers based in anti-gang units are also aware of the activities of some men linked to a west Dublin gang. These men are now attempting to move into the horse racing industry by using people with clean records to purchase horses and become their registered owners.
Earlier this week, CAB carried out a number of searches in Dublin and Wexford, seizing an assortment of items including jewellery, documents and a horse-box.
The searches took place in the Ballyfermot, Finglas and Ballyboughal areas of Dublin and also in Courtown, Wexford.
CAB said it also issued a freezing order on “a substantial amount of cash in a financial institution”.
Gang element
As the horse racing business is an international one, national bodies cannot insulate themselves from problems in other jurisdictions. Issues within the Irish field will be felt by those in Britain, France and elsewhere and vice-versa.
Authorities believe that the Kinahan cartel has long been involved in using the horse racing industry to move money around.
Gardaí are also aware of a race-fixing syndicate based in the British West Midlands which is being run by close associates of the Kinahan cartel. The enterprise stopped after a large-scale UK police operation in 2010. However, as the cartel’s drug seizures are being caught more frequently due to intelligence, it has now resorted to attempting to fix races in the UK to keep themselves in cash.
Back in November 2007, Daniel Kinahan’s name was mentioned in a trial related to alleged race-fixing. Kinahan was not accused of being involved in the alleged fixing and was just brought up during witness testimony.
Former horse owner Miles Rodgers was among six people put on trial for the alleged race-fixing. Footage of Kinahan meeting with Rodgers, who had previously been declared a disqualified person by the English Jockey Club in 2004, was shown during the trial.
All those charged at the UK court walked free after the trial collapsed.
Speaking to TheJournal.ie, Robin Mounsey, spokesman for the British Horseracing Authority (BHA), said that it has dealt with issues arising out of Irish horse racing. He added that there are sophisticated technologies in place to catch those involved in race-fixing or money laundering.
“What we’re doing now is moving towards a strategy of education and the attitude that prevention is better than a cure,” he said.
“Right now, we have an integrity department which uses very sophisticated methods to flag up potential problems. There is also betting surveillance. These machines can flag up suspicious betting patterns by using sophisticated algorithms. We are alerted if there are concerns.”
What can be done
There is also a type of ‘fit and proper person’ credential for those who have a horse racing license. According to Mounsey, this can be revoked if the person brings the sport into disrepute.
While he could not officially confirm if those with violent or gang-related convictions would fall into the latter category, it is understood that if certain behaviours were brought to the attention of the BHA, then it would have to investigate.
The Turf Club, which is the Irish regulatory body for horse racing, said it liaises with a number of international organisations in a bid to protect its integrity.
In a statement released to TheJournal.ie, a spokeswoman said the club is “very conscious of the protection of the industry” and that it has “developed strong working relationships with other racing authorities to ensure the sharing of information which can help us identify possible threats”.
However, it did say it had limitations about which it could only do so much.
The spokeswoman added: “We cannot control the actions of those outside the sport. However, all trainers, handlers and jockeys are licensed and subject to the rules of racing. Owners must register with Horse Racing Ireland and are subject to the rules of racing by virtue of their registration.
“As a regulatory body our investigative powers are limited. While we can require production of documents including telephone records and bank account records under our rules, it is limited to specific circumstances and to those who are subject to our jurisdiction and we do not have the powers to seize documentation.
“We are also aware that we have limitations to our jurisdiction and powers. As with other sporting bodies, we need government and gardaí support in order to be able protect the integrity of the sport.
We are also considering further steps that can be taken to protect the sport and will continue to work with all stakeholders to implement best practice.
The syndicate
Horses with multiple owners also throw up a number of problems for the authorities.
According to the Irish Horse Society, syndicates can consist of between two and 20 members. All members of the syndicate must sign the registration form. The horse is leased to one member of the syndicate who must be a registered owner. That person is then known as the ‘registered agent’ and is regarded as the sole owner for racing purposes.
According to the Turf Club and the BHA, there are teams of people whose job it is to act as the eyes and ears around stables and horse racing circles. The intelligence is then passed on to the appropriate agencies, including gardaí.
Mounsey added: “There is extensive intelligence network that include our teams of BHA investigating officers. They go into the field to make random unannounced visits to stables. This happens alongside people who are the eyes and ears of the network who would report back what they hear.
Wherever there is money to be made, you will have an element which does not have this industry’s best interest at heart.
The BHA and Turf Club said they deal with members of the police, both in the UK and internationally, but that “fortunately, those sorts of incidents are rare”.
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There’s something unsettling about watching the tea turn a milky colour while the teabag is still floating in the cup.
“Still JANUARY”???? Surely Sinead you can’t have been asleep for months, it’s now AUGUST!
Remove tea bag. One sugar, stir. Add milk, stir. Bobs your uncle.
Now continue on with your lives!!
NO. Add milk before sugar, we are not savages.
My OCD gauge is starting to twitch ….
No way jim, sugar before milk otherwise it’s not hot enough to dissolve the sugar and you end up with a mess at the end of the cup.
You’re missing out on the warm lactose combining with the sugar to give a lovely caramelised smoothness. More stirring is needed of course but the good things are worth the effort. Maybe I should relax with a cuppa now.
prep tae and then add bainne of course. how hot the tae is obviously determined by amount of bainne. . bainne before tae can lead to super cooling affect which in turn could lead to melt down which could lead to all out ructions !!
Tae
a tea bag and milk have no business being in the one cup at the same time.
Tea bag in the water, let it sit for three mins, stir a few times.. Don’t squeeze the $hite out of it, tea becomes bitter. Then add a drop of milk nice and strong
I like my tea like my men, black, strong and just a little bit sweet.
Tea so black, it axed me a question.
They say breast is best?
have we gone back in time or forward in time to January! that is a shocking lazy copy and paste job!
Milk in Tea? Go way ya big girls blouse, Tea should not have milk in it!
warning: Heracy Alert! I don’t take milk in my tea!
putting sugar in tea is just wrong, and always pour the tea in first and then milk.
The perfect way to make tea…
Swirl the cup with hot water
Fill it 80% with 95 degree water
Add a tea bag for 1 min and 50secs
Remove
Add approx 5 tea spoons of room temperature fresh milk.
Toss it down the sink and pour yourself a cup of life affirming, caffeinated coffee like a normal person, sit back, drink and ponder the concept that at this moment in time everything is as close to perfect as humanly possible.
I don’t put milk in tea at all.
Black tea is nice actually! Have tried it once or twice
You put lemon into it?
No I haven’t actually! Do u?
Have put orange juice into tea and coffee lol.
From a pot, milk first.
From individual mugs, milk last.
It’s tea making, not rocket science!
It is! I know a guy who had to study quantum mechanics and Einsteins theory of relatively before he knew how to make a perfect cupa!
the longer you leave the teabag the stronger the tea Will get. adding milk Will stop the infusion of the teabag, that way by adding milk after you make it as weak or strong as you Want
mrs doyle this is a very milky cup of tea
I’m sorry but the only article I’m interested in reading about tea is that they have discovered a way to give it in an IV….. And also Jamaica ginger cake…….
No option for don’t drink tea?
Don’t drink tea? Tell us of this new planet you’re from
Coffeland lol.
depends how lazy I am. sometimes I drink the tea with the tea bag still in the cup. sometimes I add the milk then the tea bag then the hot water. If I was a perfectionist I would put the tea bag in the cup then add hot water, stir and squeeze out the tea bag then add the milk. It really depends on my humour. ..
this madness frightens me
Is that you mrs Doyle?
We need to get you a teamaster.It really takes the misery out of making tea.
You know how hard it is to find a tea spoon in my house! Hence everything gets thrown in together. . sometimes though ido burn my fingers when I dip the teabag in and out of the cup pinched in between my thumb and index finger.
@sonny black: Perhaps I like the misery.
Lily I don’t know what blaspheme or Devel worship you practice. But I’m calling the Garda. To ask, can they contact me the Ministry of good tea making and have you expelled from the country.
At what barometric pressure do you boil your water at, lol.
But what about green tea then lol.
I don’t take milk in tea, in my opinion it ruins it!
Why would you take out the tae bag, eh?…
This may sound really pernickety of me, but the answer to this actually depends on the colour of mug that I use. If I’ve used a black mug, I always put the milk in first. If it’s a white mug, then it’s the tea bag out first, then the drop of bainne.
Milk then tea bag. How else are you to know if it’s too strong or not. :)
Prior to the discovery of quality china clay in Britain only the upper classes could afford quality China .Mugs or cups made from lesser materials was liable to crack when hot tea was introduced.Thats why whether you add the milk first or later is still seen as an indicator of class origin
its more the fact that adding milk first stops the tea from staining the inside of the cup. i have my dustin the turkey cup 10 years now from carrolls on o connell st.not sure if it is made of porcelain
None of these options are correct.
The goal of making tea is to make an emulsion, not what most people make – a mixture.
The correct way to make a up of tea is to add the milk, then the bag and then the hot water.
This results in an emulsion.
The wrong way is to add the milk last.
This will result in a mixture.
You can taste the difference.
Guy Martin explains it here:
https://youtu.be/a0845Vgy99E?t=1m3s
It’s all to do with the molecular interaction between the hot water and the milk.
Got it?
What about adding the milk before the water or the tea, Guy Martin style. It’s the emulsion way of making tea, try it and you won’t ever go back.
Add the milk before the hot water and the tea bag.
That’s just crazy talk
Fascinating poll
Put simply….you don’t.
I leave the tea bag in cos the tea gets stronger the nearer you get to the bottom
Needs another option, mild first, then drop tea bag in, 30 sec add water. Remove tea bag.
ALL WRONG. Brown sauce would batter milk any day
half tea half milk, after removing tea bag
I leave my tea bag in until I finish the cup
Milk increases the viscosity and would prevent effective convection through the teabag. I’m not quite sure about the effect on dissolution of sugar crystals though.
I don’t put milk in tea or coffee
With coffee you can heat the milk with the coffee in it and put it in the microwave, can you make tea with hot milk instead of water, just a thought, lol.
Milk in coffee?
What fresh hell is this?
No water just milk used to make coffee…
Only way is to do it, add sugar and tea bag, then add the milk, mix briefly to dissolve sugar, finally the boiling water. Makes for a smoother brew!
have your say