Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
THE ARRESTS OF four men accused of attempting to carry out a gangland murder on behalf of the Kinahan cartel represents one of the biggest victories for gardaí since the feud began, officers have said.
Among those arrested is a senior figure within the gang, as well as someone who gardaí believe helped orchestrate one of the eight deaths linked to the Kinahan faction over the last 18 months.
Two others are not members of the Kinahan cartel. Instead, gardaí believe they are hired gunmen.
One is a convicted criminal who has, in the past, been charged with murder. He was later acquitted. This man has also made regular death threats to members of gardaí who have been tracking him for a number of years.
The youngest man arrested is a 23-year-old relative of a serious criminal in west Dublin who has already survived an attempt on his life.
Assistant Commissioner John O’Driscoll yesterday vowed that gardaí will be arresting more senior players in the coming weeks as a raft of new intelligence garnered by elite officers is starting to pay dividends.
Significant
Speaking at a news conference yesterday, he said: “[The] operation was probably the most significant operations of its type ever undertaken in terms of the level of resources employed.
It reflects the fact the State realises the impact and the capacity that organised crime can do to damage the community we live in.
“Clearly we intervened in a situation where, we alleged, that a person’s life was in immediate danger. There is evidence that a number of people were in close proximity to a loaded weapon bearing a silencer and ammunition.
“We will allege that this was an elaborate enterprise involving getaway cars. There were plans to destroy these getaway cars and for those involved to immediately flee from the scene without getting caught.”
The arrests happened in a number of different operations.
Members of the Emergency Response Unit spotted and stopped a car in the Fairview area of the capital where they discovered the loaded firearm and a silencer. Shortly after, two other men were arrested in Dublin’s south inner city – an area known to be the heartland of the Kinahan cartel.
Following the arrests of the four individuals, gardaí searched a number of premises and removed a number of items of potential evidence.
Gardaí had mounted intelligence operations for a number of months prior to moving in on the targets. Undercover officers had ascertained who the suspected victim of the planned operation earlier this year.
The man, an associate of the Hutch gang, was seen as an easy target as he is someone who wouldn’t have considered himself top of the Kinahan’s murder list.
However, threats had been made by a number of other gangs to this man. The cartel, it is understood, believed it would not face retaliation as it would have been unclear who had killed the target.
The cartel has attempted to carry out at least a dozen murders in the calendar year. However, gardaí have intercepted the vast majority of these before they could be carried out.
International arrests
In recent weeks, the cartel has been hit hard with the arrest of their main cocaine supplier along with the seizure of a number of phones which link the Irish gang to South American distributors.
Distributors of cocaine have been arrested in the Netherlands, the Caribbean and Germany, as well as Chile where the drug baron ‘El Rico’ was arrested last week.
Approximately 60% of Ireland’s cocaine had been coming through El Rico and his distributors, according to sources.
The arrest of El Rico and the subsequent seizure of his electronic devices is the main reason for the international arrests. He had been using a German IT protection system, used by many multinational financial organisations, in an attempt to safeguard his communications. Leading members of the Kinahan cartel were in conversation with El Rico by using this system.
The seizure of the phones now means that police in a number of jurisdictions have access to El Rico’s records which go back to 2011 – meaning any deal made between him and Irish gangs is currently being accessed by investigators.
Charges for murder, drug trafficking and the importation of arms are expected to be brought against Irish drug dealers by US and Dutch authorities in the coming weeks once all of the encrypted communications have been accessed and logged.
The main gang leaders of the Kinahan cartel have fled Ireland in the last six months. Some have a number of outstanding arrest warrants in Spain, Ireland and the UK.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Ill send down my missus, shes great at digging up stuff from the past!!
@Thomas Maher: comment if the day!!!
@Thomas Maher: I’ll send down my missus to log the information but she won’t need paper or a pencil cos she never forgets the past!!!
@John Jones: I,ll just send down my missus. If that,s o.k.
@Thomas Maher: ah, so you this is where men come to jizz all over each other over their ‘hilarious’ jokes…
@Thomas Maher: ah, so you this is where men come to j1zz all over each other over their ‘hilarious’ jokes…
The surveys also found weirs, accumulations of debris that could have an archaeological importance and some 31 very modern tyres…
It’s been a Goodyear for archaeology so…
Time to build another motorway!
Fascinating how there aren’t a lot more digs in the area, especially given modern technology and scanning.
@ThatLJD: An archaeologist once told me that the only way he could ever go on a dig was to offer his services for free due to lack of funding.
@ThatLJD: money
@ThatLJD: money for
@ThatLJD: Consider the country you live in and wonder if it really is, ‘facinating’
@thesaltyurchin: I know, if we built more housing estates, incinerators and some fracking we’d easily have the funds for some more digs. Get the planning in and then and let the m pay for it. Then just remove permission after. Ideal. Fascination over!
@ThatLJD: you don’t fig unless you have to. archeological digs by there very nature destroy the context this is in. hence unless you have a very specific research question to answer or it’s going to be destroyed by human or natural activity you don’t dig you leave well alone and wait for better and better none invasive techniques to come along . it’s why metal detectors are a scourge because everyt5is dug up but theres no context so you lose,that information.
Newgrange was built in the Neolithic period. If we had the money for archaeology they would find a lot more.
Convinced there was an early longphoirt in Malahide Estuary but they won’t dig. It’s frustrating.
@Rebecca De Stanleigh: not for me it isn’t. I’m just fine with that. You only ruin things by digging them up. If you want to dig it up why don’t you and some likeminded individuals come up with the funds yourself?
@Sean: you wouldn’t understand. You’re not a historian.
@Rebecca De Stanleigh: Meeeowww
@Rebecca De Stanleigh: Not a bad idea all the same. If the evidence is there and permission was granted for a dig, I’d definitely contribute.
@Rebecca De Stanleigh: just wondering as to what evidence there is ?
Fascinating. I was in a pub toilet in Temple Bar over the weekend and I too discovered a couple of log boats
Dup rowboats
This is great news. Finding all sorts of things using new technology. The fact we can’t afford to jump straight on it and Will have to wait until the funds are there is frustrating. The amount of archeology being discovered will keep generation’s of archaeology students busy for years. Lidar 3D scanning will find more than a OPW can handle
Of all the information online about Newgrange, I am yet to read anything from historians that even attempts to try to answer how the hell neolithic Irish settler’s gained the skills in engineering, and more importantly, advanced skills in mathematics and astronomy to even be able to build Newgrange.
Seems evert expert in the subject is happy to ignore these very big questions, and rather focus on little things like log boats. I’m not saying these discoveries are not important, they are! But I have not read anything regarding how or where these people leaned these skills.
When I read about the people living in Ireland 5,000 years ago. They are almost always described as simple neolithic farmers. Are historians just happy with little finds like Thai, and happy to ignore the much bigger questions? Like how they were able to achieve such a perfect aligning of the monument that it catches the sun rise in the winter solstice?
I have read many articles about Newgrange, and not one of them seems to even try to answer these questions.
@Jaymes Moynihan:
Simple.
They were human beings that had generations and generations to observe and apply via engineering techniques also developed over generations and generations.
We mainly developed our current technologies since the Industrial Revolution or maybe go a bit further back to the Renaissance for the theories.
Say 400 years or so.
Some of the Neolithic construction projects probably took longer to fully realise – plenty of time to learn on the job.
@Michael Kavanagh: Or mabe the whole Newgrange thing is just made up….. “Mr Gibbons says the “roof box” which was central to capturing the winter light has “not a shred of authenticity”, and was “fabricated” during reconstruction in the 1960s. Newgrange has been the subject of much archaeological debate since Prof Michael O’Kelly made the first observation of the mid-winter “solstice phenomenon” at Newgrange in 1967. Questions have been raised about the quartz wall surrounding the passage tomb, which was erected between 1967 and 1974 on the basis of Prof O’Kelly’s interpretation.” Search online. “interpretation” being the key word. The whole blood thing’s an “interpretation”.
……or they could be just tree trunks?
@Josh Hanners: with all their branches taken off?
Is anyone going to remove the very modern tyres ? My be some of the eco warriors who like protesting would like to do something practical and remove them.
@Martin Sinnott: Eco Warriors do some work. Are you mad :D
It’s the opw deeping and wideing the river bed with spoons
have your say