Senior Kinahan gang member to appear in British court

A SENIOR criminal linked to the Kinahan cartel will appear in court in the UK this morning charged with possession of a stun gun.

Thomas ‘Bomber’ Kavanagh, of Tamworth, Staffordshire, England, was arrested on Saturday as he flew into Birmingham Airport.

The Irish Daily Mail understands Kavanagh, 51, had been under surveillance by Britain’s National Crime Agency and the gardaí for the past 18 months. The police forces have been collaborating as part of an investigation into money laundering and the supply of drugs and firearms into the UK and Ireland, the NCA said.

Kavanagh was with his two sons, one in his 20s and the other aged 19, on an international flight. His sons have been released without charge.

NCA officers, supported by the gardaí and Staffordshire Police, conducted a number of searches and recovered a combination torch and stun gun – which is illegal to own and possess in the UK.

Kavanagh was remanded in custody overnight and will appear at North Staffordshire Magistrates this morning, the NCA said. Sources have told the Mail that senior criminals, linked to the higher echelons of the Kinahan cartel and living in the UK, are also under investigation as part of the same probe.

More arrests are planned in the inquiry in England, it is understood. Close associates of Kinahan henchman David Byrne, 32, who was killed in north Dublin’s Regency Hotel in February 2016, are under investigation and facing potential arrest.

Kavanagh, who has 16 previous convictions in Ireland, left the country almost ten years ago after the Criminal Assets Bureau issued him with a substantial tax demand.

He relocated to Birmingham where he bought a large house and opened a motor dealership. The NCA said he was arrested on suspicion of conspiring to import and supply drugs, firearms and ammunition, as well as money laundering offences.