Gangster Kinahan ‘on run in Middle East’ after uproar at boxing venture
Cartel leader under pressure from gardaí and politicians
SPECIALIST detectives are “actively investigating” reports that under-pressure crime boss Daniel Kinahan has left Dubai and is travelling from country to country in the Middle East.
Senior sources said last night that if the information given to officers by “high-level informants” is correct, it shows that pressure on the 43-year-old gangster from gardaí and other police forces is having a huge effect.
He has been trying to reinvent himself as an international boxing promoter.
“Certain countries in the middle-eastern region have been mentioned as to where he has been staying in recent weeks, but proper verification of this information has not yet been established – but it has come in from a number of sources,” a senior source told the Irish Independent.
“There is a massive investigation into his activities which is being co-ordinated by the Garda Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau (DOCB) in conjunction with a number of international police agencies, and there is a growing feeling that criminal charges are likely to be brought against him here.
“It seems that Daniel is acutely aware of all this and this may well be the reason why he has fled Dubai, which had been his safe haven now for over four years.
“Maybe he feels that the authorities in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are finally going to come down on him,” the source said.
Last month, then Taoiseach Leo Varadkar confirmed he had contacted the United Arab Emirates regarding the activities of Kinahan.
Mr Varadkar told the Dáil that the Department of Foreign Affairs had made diplomatic contact with the UAE regarding the self-exiled leader of the international crime syndicate.
This government move followed representation by Labour leader Alan Kelly and Fine Gael Dublin TD Neale Richmond, who said Kinahan’s bid to reinvent himself as a boxing promoter could not be allowed to succeed.
Daniel Kinahan has been identified in the High Court as a senior figure in organised crime here who has controlled and managed the family-run crime group he is said to have inherited from his father, Christy Kinahan.
Last week, the Irish Independent revealed that gardaí were looking to question Daniel Kinahan as part of a number of investigations, with detectives also building a file with hopes of charging him with membership of and directing an organised crime group.
Sources said a large amount of material had been gathered already and gardaí were focusing on charging the head of the Kinahan crime gang under anti-gangland legislation.
Last week, a senior garda declared the force’s determination to crush the crime gang that had “wrecked the lives of so many people in the community from where they came themselves”.
Last month, Mr Kinahan’s plan to reinvent himself as a boxing promoter was dealt a blow after a major sports company in Bahrain cut ties with him, just a month after naming him as a special adviser.
A week before this, he was hailed a hero by heavyweight champion Tyson Fury for setting up two lucrative bouts with fellow British heavyweight Anthony Joshua.
Days later it emerged that he had been removed from this role after Fury’s boxing promoter Bob Arum said he had discussed the matter with Fury and decided his company Top Rank Boxing will handle future negotiations.
Gardaí want to quiz Daniel Kinahan in several investigations