Justice Minister Helen McEntee’s sudden trip to Abu Dhabi was impeccably timed for both her and her party, Fine Gael, on the threshold of a general election. Her signing of an extradition deal between the UAE and the Republic of Ireland on Monday serves as a crucial phase in the two-decade struggle against the Kinahan cartel.
The positive storyline is roughly as follows: With prominent Kinahan cartel figure, Sean McGovern, now incarcerated in Dubai, the newly minted extradition agreement could facilitate his transfer back to Ireland to face his pending charges. Once this procedure has been executed, the Kinahans themselves could be next.
However, recent dealings with the UAE by Dutch and South African authorities ought to serve as a warning.
McGovern, pinpointed by the US authorities as one of seven key operatives in the Kinahan cartel in 2022, is the first member of the Kinahan cartel to be arrested in Dubai, marking a notable breakthrough.
In Dublin, the Byrne crime group, which used to operate the cartel’s Irish actions from their Crumlin base, has essentially been dismantled. Approximately 70 individuals connected to it have been imprisoned following Garda investigations into the feud between Kinahan-Hutch. This week the gang’s leader, Liam Byrne (43), is facing sentencing in London for his involvement in a plot to obstruct justice with the procurement and planned discovery of firearms.
His brother-in-law, along with the individual overseeing the Kinahan’s UK activities, Thomas Bomber Kavanagh, also faces sentencing for the same conspiracy this week. Last year, Kavanagh (57) received a 21-year prison sentence for smuggling Kinahan drugs into the UK.
However, primary targets Christopher Kinahan Snr, and his sons Daniel and Christopher Jr, are still free in Dubai, illuminating that nothing within the criminal justice framework, be it local or international, is ever unambiguous.
Last July, both the Netherlands and the United Arab Emirates agreed on two accords bolstering their mutual cooperation in legal aid and extradition procedures. Edin Gačanin, a Bosnian-Dutch drug trafficker and notable accomplice of Daniel Kinahan, was a main subject of interest for the Dutch authorities at that time.
Despite being taken into custody in Dubai in 2022 and receiving a seven-year jail sentence from a court in Rotterdam in absentia, Gačanin was never extradited to the Netherlands. Instead, he was set free in Dubai at the beginning of this year.
A similar experience was had by the South African officials. Despite having an extradition agreement with UAE for more than three years, their attempts to extradite Atul and Rajesh Gupta, two brothers implicated in fraudulent and corrupt activities, failed. The UAE claimed deficiencies in the legal paperwork, and the brothers have since been sighted in Switzerland.
It is understood by the Garda officials that the extradition of McGovern might turn out to be lengthy and unpredictable, particularly if he resists. McGovern is facing charges tied to the 2016 Kinahan-Hutch feud murder of 62-year-old Noel Kirwan in Dublin, and leading organised crime. However, even if he is successfully extradited, the likelihood of the Kinahans following suit remains more of a hope than a surety for the time being.
The decision on a file submitted to the Director of Public Prosecutions last year, which the gardaí are optimistic might result in Daniel Kinahan at least, being accused of managing organised crime, is still pending. In the absence of any charges in the Republic, the extradition process against the Kinahans cannot start. Hence, with their wealth and connections, they could potentially remain elusive once more, possibly taking refuge in Russia, prior to any decisions made about charges against them.