KINAHAN CARTEL BUSTED
Fresh gang blow as trio admit drugs rap and money laundering
THE Kinahan cartel received another huge blow after three senior members admitted conspiracy to import drugs and money laundering.
Mob boss Thomas “Bomber” Kavanagh, 52, Gary Vickery, 37, and 41-year-old Daniel Canning face possible life terms in the UK.
Fine Gael TD Neale Richmond said: “The net is closing in on this vicious criminal enterprise.”
THREE senior members of the Kinahan gang have pleaded guilty in the UK to conspiracy to import drugs and money laundering.
Thomas “Bomber” Kavanagh and Gary Vickery, both with addresses in Tamworth, England, and Daniel Canning, from Walkinstown in South Dublin, all pleaded guilty at Ipswich Crown Court yesterday.
Kavanagh, 52, is already serving three years in jail after a 10,000-volt stun gun, disguised as a pink torch, was found at his home.
He was sent to prison last September, having been arrested at Birmingham Airport as he stepped off a flight from Mexico in January 2019.
Now the car dealer has admitted – alongside Vickery, 37, and 41-year-old Canning – to conspiring to import class A and B drugs and money laundering.
Canning also admitted possessing a firearm and ammunition.
All three men will be sentenced following a hearing relating to Kavanagh’s involvement in the conspiracy, which will take place at the same court on October 26. The National Crime Agency said the latest convictions marked the end of a four-year probe, also involving the Garda, into Kavanagh and his associates.
And Fine Gael TD Neale Richmond called it “further evidence the Kinahan cartel is a major international criminal organisation involved at the highest levels”.
He said it was “vital the full resources of the State” continue to target the gang and added: “The net is closing in on this vicious criminal enterprise.”
NCA deputy director of investigations Matt Horne said: “Today’s guilty pleas are the culmination of a four-year investigation into Thomas Kavanagh and his co-conspirators, who were part of a significant international crime network, capable of organising multi-million pound shipments of drugs. We have worked throughout with our colleagues at An Garda Siochana and I hope these convictions send out a strong message to others who may think themselves to be untouchable. We will be relentless in our pursuit of those involved in organised criminality.”
Father-of-six Kavanagh, who is considered the most senior representative of the Kinahan organised crime group in the UK, was arrested in the international arrivals hall at Birmingham Airport following a family holiday in January last year.
The stun gun was found during a search of his home on January 12 on a shelf above kitchen wall units.
The gated mansion was so well fortified, including being fitted with “reinforced bulletproof glass”, that it took officers longer than usual to force entry.
It was during the 13-hour search that officers discovered the working stun gun, with Police written in capital letters on its side, and which prosecutors said had the appearance of a “Maglite-type” torch.
In an interview, Kavanagh told officers he had taken the stun gun “off one of the kids when they were messing about with it and had thrown it on top of kitchen units”. He said another family member had taken it back to the house after buying it on holiday in “China, Spain or France”.
We will be relentless in our pursuit of those involved in organised criminality
MATT HORNE NCA DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF INVESTIGATIONS