DUBLIN: A plane landed in Ireland on Sunday carrying suspected transnational cartel boss Daniel Kinahan who was set to face trial after being extradited from the United Arab Emirates, a journalist saw.

Kinahan had been held in custody in Dubai since his arrest there in April after Ireland issued a warrant for “alleged serious organised crime offences”.

The 49-year-old Irishman allegedly ran a group out of Dubai linked by US and European authorities to a vast criminal enterprise that smuggled drugs and laundered money.

The grey Irish government jet reported by local media to be bringing Kinahan landed at Casement Aerodrome, a military air base west of Dublin as a helicopter circled overhead, a video journalist saw.

On landing, Kinahan was expected to be formally arrested and taken straight to the Special Criminal Court in Dublin, where he was to be charged with directing an organised crime group, RTE national broadcaster reported.

The transnational group, known as the Kinahan Organised Crime Group (KOCG), is alleged to be the most powerful criminal organisation in Ireland with wealth estimated by Irish police at over 1 billion euros ($1.15 billion).

The US government in 2022 imposed sanctions on Kinahan and other members of his family and offered a reward of up to $5 million for information leading to their arrest.

In a joint statement on Sunday, UAE and Irish justice ministers called Kinahan “one of the most high-profile individuals sought for prosecution in connection with transnational organised crime”.

‘Sends clear message’

Irish Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan said on X the extradition “sends a clear message that suspected perpetrators of serious and organised crime will find no safe haven from justice”. He hailed it as a “landmark of judicial cooperation with Dubai”.

Irish Foreign Minister Helen McEntee called this “the culmination of years of determined work” by Irish police and successive governments. Kinahan had lost a final appeal against extradition from the UAE, where he had been living openly for around a decade before his arrest.

Irish media reported there would be a large-scale security operation to convoy Kinahan including police, armed forces and the prison force, which recently bought a bomb-proof and bullet-proof escort van.

The Special Criminal Court where Kinahan is set to be taken is used for criminal cases involving terrorism and organised crime offences. Trials there have three judges but no jury.

According to RTE, Kinahan is expected to be held before trial in the high-security Portlaoise Prison in central Ireland, which houses some of the country’s most notorious prisoners.

The US Treasury in 2022 alleged Kinahan ran day-to-day operations of the cartel, which it claimed was a narcotics trafficking organisation active in Ireland, the United Kingdom and thro­ughout mainland Europe. It claimed the group was also engaged in “money laundering, firearms trafficking, and murder”.

Kinahan moved to the UAE from Spain around 2016 after the murder of one of his associates and an attempt on his life at a boxing weigh-in at a Dublin hotel.

He also had ties to a now-defunct boxing management company that represented boxers including Tyson Fury and Carl Frampton.

Published in Dawn, August 10th, 2026