Kinahan gangsters still being harboured by UAE, as criminals see fleeing as ‘too risky’

The Kinahans and their entourage risk arrest if they attempt to leave the United Arab Emirates by land, sea or air. The UAE is bordered by Oman and Saudi Arabia, with border crossings heavily policed. The coastline along the Arabian Sea, however, is dotted with ports and marinas which can accommodate superyachts.

Even travel by private plane or yacht attaches a level of risk that the Kinahan leaders have so far shied away from, a senior source said.

“They are still in the UAE,” said the source. “It is rumoured they are looking at other countries — but the difficulty is how do they leave? There are lots of routes out of the UAE, but they are shut off to them.”

While the cartel leaders may have cash reserves, they are reliant on proxies to access funds, or to cash in assets by selling properties and companies, the source said. “The roles are fraught with risk, given that anyone doing business with the Kinahans also runs the risk of being hit with sanctions.”

The Kinahans and their cartel lieutenants — including Dubliners Ian Dixon, Bernard Clancy and Sean McGovern — were all identified by the US government last month, as drug traffickers openly living in Dubai.

Leaked documents have since revealed their addresses in lavish Dubai residences favoured by the super-rich. According to the records, Daniel’s wife Caoimhe Robinson owns apartments in the Elite Residence and the Al Mesk Tower.

The US Treasury gave Daniel Kinahan’s main Dubai address as Palm Jumeirah, a man-made island with millionaire-level properties. However, Kinahan is believed to have since moved to another location with his family.

The Criminal Assets Bureau (Cab), which is actively hunting Daniel Kinahan, believes he is still in Dubai.

After a long and complex investigation, Cab has also linked Daniel Kinahan to a mansion in Coldwater Lakes, West Dublin, which it has seized as the proceeds of crime.

Cab claims the house belonged to Jim Mansfield Jnr, son of the property tycoon behind the Citywest hotel and complex, Jim Mansfield.

The High Court has heard a key witness told Cab that €4.5m of cartel drug money was delivered to Mansfield Jnr in two suitcases on Good Friday 2009.

The cash was lost in the Celtic Tiger crash, and Mansfield Jnr is alleged to have handed over the house in a deal to placate the cartel.

The court heard how the property was given to Thomas ‘Bomber’ Kavanagh and Daniel Kinahan, and that by 2014, Kinahan was in control of it.

The Mansfield family had disavowed any interest in the cash, with the bureau now continuing its case against Kinahan and Kavanagh in relation to the west Dublin mansion. Mansfield is currently serving an 18-month prison sentence in Portlaoise Prison for ordering the destruction of CCTV evidence recorded at his Citywest complex on the same morning his security employee was kidnapped and assaulted by INLA figures Dessie O’Hare and Declan Duffy.

Cab seized the property and was granted permission by the court to sell it. But in order to do that, Cab must first serve notice on the respondents in the case — Jim Mansfield Jnr, Kavanagh and Kinahan.

Papers have been served on Jim ­Mansfield Jnr and Thomas ‘Bomber’ Kavanagh in prison, but the bureau is still searching for an active address for Kinahan.

Cab barrister Shelly Horan told the High Court at a remote hearing last week that a garda spoke to Thomas Kavanagh through a cell door to explain the proceedings, but Kavanagh replied: “I don’t want to talk to you. Go away.”

The European Commission last week announced proposals for a Europe-wide agency, with powers to seize ­assets of suspected crime lords.

EU Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson suggested that the Kinahan cartel would be a key target of the new agency. The proposal will ultimately have to be voted on by EU member states.

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