Kinahan cartel bypassing Irish allies in favour of unknown ‘franchisees’ for drugs business

The Kinahan cartel has begun a new so-called franchise system in Ireland based on using people, Irish and foreign nationals, who are previously unknown to An Garda Sióchána.

Gardaí believe the drugs distribution hub discovered last week in Co Kilkenny, disguised as a food company, was an example of the new tactics now being deployed by the cartel as it attempts to continue its drug wholesale operations in Ireland.

Detectives were surprised by the extent of the effort undertaken to conceal the drugs trafficking within a registered company, and the suspects in the case were previously not known to law enforcement in the Republic.

Cannabis valued at €6.9 million was discovered at the commercial premises, which gardaí believe was being used as a hub for receiving and then redistributing drugs from the cartel, which is headed by Christopher Kinahan Snr and his sons Daniel and Christopher Jnr.

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The cartel had scaled back its business in Ireland after years of intense pressure from the Garda saw many of its members and allies jailed in the Republic ,while others fled the country. That operation by the Garda, since the Kinahan-Hutch feud erupted in 2015, effectively saw the Crumlin-based Byrne organised crime group wiped out in Ireland.

As that group had acted as receiver and distributor of the cartel’s drugs for the Irish market, its absence has forced the Kinahans to reinvent their model in the Republic. The cartel engaged in a cost-cutting exercise by cutting off some of the mid-level Irish drug dealers it supplied as many of those figures were now so well known after years of Garda and media attention.

And it has now begun its efforts to rejuvenate itself by using Irish and foreign people with clean criminal records as franchisees. Gardaí have now uncovered evidence in several operations of people with no criminal record, or do not have an established record in the organised drugs trade, working for the cartel as franchisees.

This effectively means they are operating as small groups, allied to the cartel without being insiders, and who are effectively taking receipt of drugs shipments, which are then broken up and distributed to other drugs gangs.

Garda sources said the cartel network of Irish members and allies was now so well known that many of them were no longer of any value to the cartel in Ireland. As a result they were now being “bypassed” by the cartel’s leadership in favour of people who were unknown in the Republic.

Separately, Garda Commissioner Drew Harris last week said the Kinahan cartel would show “resilience” in the face of the international law enforcement effort now directed at it. He said the pursuit of the cartel would be “relentless” and would last for years.

He added that the Garda was now working with “reliable” law enforcement partners in their efforts to bring to justice the Dubai-based cartel leaders. Mr Harris said since American law enforcement had announced financial sanctions against Christopher Kinahan Snr and his two sons Daniel and Christopher Jnr in April a larger flow of intelligence was being shared with the Irish force from international law enforcement agencies.