Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Kinahan hitman is jailed for 6yrs
Estonian admits conspiracy in cross-border murder plot
A NOTORIOUS Estonian hitman who jetted to carry out a murder for the Kinahan gang in Northern Ireland has been caged for six years.
Judges heard Imre Arakas travelled to Dublin before planning to cross the border to take out James “Mago” Gately.
The Special Criminal Court was told Arakas, who was under Garda surveillance, bought a wig in Dublin city and used an encrypted Blackberry to receive information about the movements of his target.
The 60-year-old former wrestler admitted conspiring with others to murder Mr Gately between April 3 and April 4 last year.
Yesterday morning he was sentenced for his part in the Kinahan plot.
Mr Gately was living in the
North at the time of the intended hit.
In their ruling, the threejudge panel led by Mr Justice
Hunt praised the work of gardai, particularly Det Sean O’neill, who in a quickthinking move took images of messages on Arakas’ encrypted phone before they were deleted.
They said the hitman was “determined” and “ready and able” to launch the attempted murder.
Arakas, who is a former soldier, is also wanted in another country in relation to other cases.
He will serve his sentence first in Ireland.
Previously, the court heard the defendant had travelled to Ireland from Estonia and on his arrival made his way to track the movements of Hutch targets.
The gardai were watching and a surveillance team were following his every move. A decision was made to strike against the house where he was staying. An Emergency Response Unit moved in and raided a property where they found Arakas by a single bed and arrested him. A piece of paper was found on the couch with Estonian writing. It also had “James Gately, Dublin criminal”, an address in Newry, Co Down, and instructions on how to find his picture online.
Also recovered was a Blackberry which required passwords and a unique server to access its contents.
The device automatically scrambled messages when interfered with but it was open and Det O’neill took pictures of a thread of messages.
Det Inspt David Gallagher told the court the thread carried the handles “Ow New,
Knife, Bon 4 and Bon New”.
Bon New was believed by gardai to be Daniel Kinahan.
Arakas texted: “It seems possible to take him down when he comes out of the car then on the way to the front door.
“The problem is there is nowhere to hide. A silencer would be good and it would be very good if the ‘dog’ [gun] be accurate. It could be just one shot to the head from distance. It’s possible I will see what I can do. Best regards.” Arakas has a number of previous convictions in Estonia.
In 1979 he was given a three-year sentence for causing deliberate bodily harm. That same year he received a 15-year term for theft, attempting to escape from prison, unlawful handling of firearms and hooliganism. In 1997, he was again convicted for unlawful handling of firearms and in 2011 for a third time as well as perjury.
The court heard Arakas had an address in Tallinn but had been residing in Spain for a number of years.
Det Supt Seamus Boland said after the hearing gardai would continue their relentless pursuit of criminals. He added: “I’d like to take this opportunity to thank our colleagues in Europol and in the PSNI and also of An Garda Siochana without whose commitment and dedication this murderous conspiracy would have succeeded.”