Cartel leader Daniel Kinahan has lodged a final appeal in an attempt to overturn the decision to extradite him from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to Ireland.
It is understood that Kinahan would be returned to Ireland within the next 10 weeks if he loses that appeal, security sources told The Irish Times.
When Kinahan (49), a father of five from Dublin, was arrested at his Dubai base in April, it was envisaged that the process to secure his extradition could run until the end of the year. More recently, it was speculated that the process had accelerated and Kinahan could be extradited before the end of this month.
However, sources familiar with the case, which is unfolding in secret in Dubai, say he could be back in Ireland within the next 2½ months.
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A number of people familiar with the latest developments in the case said Kinahan’s extradition had already been approved in Dubai, with the cartel leader having lost an initial appeal against the decision. He is now taking a second appeal to a higher court and once that is exhausted, and assuming he loses, his extradition to Ireland will be a formality.
“You can never be absolutely sure but that will probably all happen by the end of September,” said one source when asked to put a timeline on Kinahan’s extradition to Ireland.
A major security operation, involving the Garda and Defence Forces, would be put in place to return Kinahan to Ireland. The Director of Public Prosecutions has approved him going on trial charged with directing organised crime. The trial would be expected to take place before the non-jury Special Criminal Court at some point next year.
The same court last month jailed senior Kinahan cartel figure Sean McGovern for 24 years for directing the group’s crimes in Dublin almost a decade ago at the height of the Kinahan-Hutch feud.
McGovern was also based in Dubai and was arrested there in October 2024, becoming the first Kinahan cartel member to be detained there and the first to be extradited to Ireland.
Since his return, in May of last year, a permanent extradition treaty has been put in place between Ireland and the UAE.
Kinahan was arrested in Dubai in April having lived openly there for almost a decade. He allegedly directed the Kinahan cartel from there, as well as allegedly co-directing the European ‘super cartel’. The ‘super cartel’ is an international mafia coalition, whose leaders have been based in Dubai, that is estimated to control about one-third of the European cocaine market.
Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan said on Thursday how the EU could secure more co-operation in law enforcement matters with nations outside the union had been discussed at an informal meeting of EU justice and home affairs ministers in Dublin Castle. This could be done by the EU dealing with these countries directly or each nation entering into bilateral agreements with others, like Ireland has with the UAE.
“We never had a strong historical relationship with the United Arab Emirates but we developed one as a result of great co-operation and work by An Garda Síochána and the Department of Justice, and former ministers, to get an extradition agreement in place,” the Minister said.
