Three-person team from Dubai Police in Dublin for meetings with gardaí
Meetings are being held throughout this week between gardaí and Dubai police to progress investigations into Kinahan cartel leaders after a high-level delegation from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) flew into Ireland last Saturday.
It is understood the three-person team from Dubai Police are in Dublin for at least a week and specific meetings are being held with various garda national bureaus under the Organised and Serious Crime (OSC) section of the force.
Sources said the visit is part of an ongoing “relationship building” exercise between the two organisations and an effort by UAE authorities to be seen as playing their part in tackling organised crime.
The delegation met with Garda Commissioner Drew Harris and Assistant Commissioner Justin Kelly, head of OSC, at Garda Headquarters on Tuesday.
A series of meetings will be held over the coming days between the Dubai police and the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau, part of OSC.
This is expected to focus on the exchange of information and intelligence about the Kinahan cartel and their involvement in international drug trafficking and money laundering.
The three leaders of the cartel – Christy Kinahan senior and his sons Daniel and Christopher Junior – are still based in Dubai as is senior lieutenant Sean McGovern.
The three leaders have been sanctioned by the US authorities, who are offering $5m for information leading to the convictions of each of them.
Practical arrangements relating to any potential extradition of the four cartel figures are expected to be aired at the meetings this week.
DOCB is also expected to raise their investigation into the seizure of the largest ever cocaine haul in the country, off the Cork coast, last month, which has links back to the Middle East.
One line of that investigation is whether or not the Kinahan cartel had a direct or indirect role in financing the purchase of 2.23 tonnes of cocaine from Colombia.
The Dubai visit to Ireland follows a Garda delegation — led by Garda Commissioner Drew Harris — to Dubai at the beginning of September.
That trip, revealed in the Irish Examiner, was his first trip to the UAE, where the garda efforts to extradite Kinahan leaders formed a key part of the discussions.
Ireland does not have an extradition treaty with the UAE.
Justice Minister Helen McEntee announced on Monday that she had a phone call with the UAE Minister for Justice about the potential of developing a bilateral extradition agreement.
