Raids have Kinahans on the run

THE arrest of 13 suspects here and in the Netherlands, along with the seizure of up to €10million of drugs, is a massive blow against the Kinahan cartel.

Gardai and their counterparts on the continent deserve great credit for this operation, which is the most serious setback yet for what is one of Europe’s most highly-organised criminal organisations.

The sheer volume of drugs seized is an indication of the scale of the Kinahan operation and its connections across Europe.

It would appear a conglomerate of Ireland’s biggest criminals pooled their resources to buy this huge drugs consignment – just like legitimate business enter partnerships with other companies. The seizures will cause these criminals, especially the smaller operators, serious financial damage.

It would also appear that gardai and Dutch police were acting on extremely accurate information that would indicate the Kinahan organisation has been penetrated. This should cause serious disruption within the cartel.

Until the armed raid and murder at the Regency Hotel the threat posed by the Kinahans and other crime gangs was not taken seriously by the Government.

But thankfully gardai appear to be getting to grips with these gangs. The Government must continue to fully resource the force to ensure the fight against organised crime continues.

Roz Purcell & Bressie

For three years beauty queen Roz and The Blizzards frontman were Ireland’s golden couple.

But back in the early days of their courtship in 2013 Roz and Bressie regularly denied they were seeing each other, insisting they were “just friends”.

The jig was up for the pair after being pictured on several dates – including going to a wedding together – six months after they first hooked up.

They broke up last year, with the model now dating music producer Zach Desmond. The Mullingar man is still single. These Hollywood sweethearts first fell for each other on the set of The Place Beyond The Pines in 2011.

Neither Mendes nor Gosling would comment on their relationship in interviews for years.

These days they are slightly more open but still managed to sneak both of Eva’s pregnancies under the radar until shortly before she was due to give birth.

Now the duo have two daughters aged three and one.