Vest of.. enemies
» Furious cops ordered Officials transferring to return body armour €500m in gang assets
A SPANISH judge has ordered police to return “mouldy” bulletproof vests to the Kinahans after the 11-year-old money laundering case against them collapsed.
The body armour is among a number of paramilitary-style items which cops have been told to hand over to the Irish crime clan after accusations of money laundering against Christy, Daniel and Christopher Kinahan Jr, pictured at the time of their arrests, were withdrawn.
Army-stye boots, camouflaged smocks and balaclavas, believed to have been used by cartel goons during Swat-style training organised by Daniel, are also to be given back.
Spanish officials are in the process of transferring up to €500million in cash, bonds and property assets back to the gang after the case against them was officially shelved last September.
The inclusion of the bulletproof vests in the judicial order has outraged members of Spain’s National Police.
Officers spent two years following and listening to the gang during the ill-fated Operation Shovel before Europe-wide raids were carried out in May 2010.
Sources in Spain said the material is in very poor condition and virtually
unuseable after having been left in storage for more than a decade. One source told the Irish Sunday Mirror: “This is a bit of a pyrrhic victory for the gang because they’re no longer really based in Spain and only have a skeletal presence here.
ANGERED
“It has angered the police who investigated them because they remain dangerous criminals and should not be allowed access to this material.
“The only plus for the officers involved is that if they ever want to use this stuff again, they’re going to have to give it a good scrubbing to get all the mould off. To put it mildly, it stinks.
There’s also the issue that police are not even sure who they are supposed to give this stuff back to.”
The Spanish operation to return the cartel’s seized cash is proceeding “very slowly”, according to the source.
The most recent figure given by the court involved was just under €1million in February.
While a spokesman for the court in Estepona was unable to provide an update last week, our source told us that “not much more” has been provided.
The source added: “This is going to take years and years.”
Virtually all of the accusations of drugs, arms trafficking and money laundering from the original inquiry have now been thrown out because of lack of evidence.
The only charges of any significance which remain in place are those of passport fraud against retired godfather Christy Kinahan.
He is accused of allegedly using a fake travel document to fly from Spain to Brazil on April 30, 2010.
However, it is still far from clear whether Kinahan Snr will even be compelled to appear before a court in Spain to face trial.
It has angered the police because they remain dangerous criminals SOURCE AFTER CASE ON KINAHAN’S GANG COLLAPSED