Drug trade 'monster' devours as Garda cuts undermine hunt for cartel bosses
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The last fortnight encapsulates the turbulent up and down of Ireland’s ongoing battle against the drugs trade.
The height was the visit of Garda Commissioner Drew Harris to Dubai to progress the possible deportation of Kinahan cartel leaders based there.
That meeting with the Chief of Police in Dubai, first revealed in the Irish Examiner, raised hopes that the cartel bosses could actually face justice in Irish courts.
The meeting came days after the weekend’s fourth session of the Citizens’ Assembly on Drugs, which continued an impressively detailed public discussion on Ireland’s drugs policy.
The assembly heard grim warnings from a senior garda that Irish traffickers were considering the supply of the lethal synthetic opiate fentanyl into Ireland.
The Irish Examiner followed this up with confirmation that Ireland’s biggest heroin traffickers, as part of a European criminal consortium, have travelled to South America where they had meetings with the notorious Sinaloa cartel in Mexico.
That week ended on a bad note in terms of the country’s policing and security architecture, with threats to staffing levels at local drug units and reports of sharp reductions in naval patrols and ship boardings.
And there was yet more research showing the corrosive impact from open dealing and drug-related anti-social behaviour in disadvantaged communities.
This week, the commissioner spoke in some detail about his trip to Dubai and confirmed the invitation was there for a Dubai police team to travel to Ireland to talk to the Kinahan investigation team.
And in Rathcormac, north Cork, he said the next step was developing a bilateral agreement to progress the investigation in Dubai.
The decision by the Garda Commissioner to travel to the United Arab Emirates to meet the Chief of Police in Dubai, as well as government officials, sent shockwaves through gangland.
The formal meetings, organised through diplomatic channels, marked a serious step up in Irish-UAE relations, and gave some hope that Dubai authorities might act against the Kinahan leaders operating there.
Christopher Kinahan and his sons, Daniel and Christopher junior, continue to live in Dubai along with senior cartel lieutenants, including Sean McGovern.
The trip by the Commissioner, and Assistant Commissioner Justin Kelly, Organised and Serious Crime, followed the decision two months ago to send an investigation file to the DPP in relation to the cartel leadership.
The garda file has recommended that a charge of directing a criminal organisation be brought against Daniel Kinahan.
However, sources expect it will take the DPP some time to examine the file, not least because it contains some 30 volumes of material.
While possible legal avenues are not yet clear, the UAE authorities have deported major criminals before, including drug lord Ridouan Taghi to the Netherlands in December 2019 and mafia boss Raffaele Imperiale to Italy in March 2022.
The men are both associates of Daniel Kinahan and are members of what the US Drug Enforcement Agency has described as a “super cartel” involving Irish, British, Bosnian, Dutch and Chilean traffickers.
It is understood that Garda efforts are initially focused on Sean McGovern.
Unlike the Kinahan leaders, he is facing criminal charges, including of murder, in Ireland and has a European Arrest Warrant out against him.
Sources believe there is a “long road” ahead in getting the leadership deported.
This week, the commissioner spoke about his visit to Dubai, first at the Association of Garda Superintendents on Wednesday – but the vote of no confidence by garda rank and file dominated the news – and then at the reopening of Rathcormac Garda Station in Cork on Thursday.
He said: “I think we can have a very positive partnership with them [Dubai police], so the invitation has been made for them to visit Dublin so we can share information and intelligence and then obviously work towards a bilateral agreement with the Dubai police in terms of advancing our investigations.”
This surprise trip to Dubai followed a continuing examination of Ireland’s drug policies and efforts to combat trafficking at the Citizens’ Assembly on Drugs Use at the weekend.
It was the fourth session of the assembly which has been given a massive task.
Firstly, it is trying to get to grips with the scale and nature of the drugs crisis in Ireland.
Secondly, it is grappling with laws and policies in Ireland and their impact.
Thirdly, it has the complicated task of examining alternative policies and laws abroad.
Fourthly, it will have to draw up a report, and submit recommendations, by the end of the year.
In the midst of this, a garda chief revealed that Irish gangs were actually considering supplying fentanyl into the market in Ireland.
The synthetic opiate mimics the effects of heroin but is at least 50 times more powerful, multiplying the risks of overdose.
The risk – which agencies and police across Europe are preparing for – comes as a result of a crackdown in Afghanistan, by the Taliban regime, on opium production, from which heroin is made.
Detective Chief Superintendent Seamus Boland of the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau told the assembly: “We are satisfied that Irish criminal networks have been considering the supply of fentanyl into the Irish market.
“This is a very concerning development as fentanyl is not just significant as you know, to opioid users, but is a risk to all drugs consumers, as cartels can add fentanyl to other drugs to increase addiction, thereby increasing customer base leading to greater profits and drug deaths.” Synthetic opiates, mainly fentanyl, were implicated in over 70,000 deaths in the US in 2021. The huge opiate market in the US has been created by legal prescriptions of powerful opiate pain killers.
As reported in the Irish Examiner over a week ago, HSE bosses have been stepping up their preparedness for any emergence in synthetic opiates.
But our preparedness at a maritime security level has been much weakened in recent years, reflected in the continuous erosion of the strength on Irish Naval Service – with its operational fleet cut from nine vessels to just two in a matter of years.
The warning from Chief Supt Boland gave defence commentators fresh cause to criticise successive governments and civil servant chiefs to failing to address the crisis in the navy.
Michael O’Sullivan, the former head of the EU drugs intelligence agency MAOC, told this newspaper that the South American cartels have their own “intelligence system” and will seek to exploit the Irish navy’s reduced capacity.
Later in the week, this newspaper reported how the operational capacity of the navy has dwindled, in terms of both patrols and boarding of vessels.
Also, at the assembly, a coalition of 200 youth workers condemned governments for creating the “monster” of drug gangs in communities.
Eddie D’Arcy of Youth Workers Against Prohibition, who has worked on the frontline in 40 years, said no sooner was one gang broken up than another replaced it.
He said these gangs are recruiting children as young as 10, 11 and 12, who were being sucked in with the promise of big money or the stick of fear, intimidation and debt.
He said these gangs intimidate individuals, families and whole communities and implement “severe levels of violence” and cited recent reports from Wexford of gangs “chopping off fingers” of those who owe money.
He said:
Last Friday week, this newspaper reported that staffing levels in the country’s local garda drug units faced being cut because of changes to frontline uniform shifts caused by a new roster coming in on 6 November.
This meant that local chief superintendents were going to have to pull gardaí who are temporarily assigned from divisional drug units, detective units and community policing units and back to uniform duties.
If this comes to pass, it will reverse the improvement in numbers in drug units under Operation Tara, an initiative Commissioner Harris introduced in July 2021.
His decision followed a massive cut in the strength of drug units during the recession, slashed by 40% between 2010 and 2018.
During this time individuals involved in local drug gangs – such as the Byrne criminal gang in Crumlin and Drimnagh – were allowed to fester and grow, becoming the Byrne Organised Crime Group - the Irish branch of the Kinahan cartel.
If drug units are cut again, the same thing is at risk of happen. Communities, particularly those areas where the drugs trade is concentrated, will be hit hardest. Again.
This issue was highlighted, not for the first time, last week in a piece of research conducted in a such a community.
The report of the Local Community Safety Partnership (LCSP) for Dublin’s North Inner City argued the need for a comprehensive approach – across all agencies and community groups – to improve community safety.
The report follows on the back of a different document – the so-called Mulvey Report – which was set up in response to the Kinahan cartel’s murder campaign against the Hutch gang and family in the north inner city in 2016 and 2017.
“The issues related to active drug taking, on street drug dealing, petty and chaotic crime and street drinking were identified as a high priority topic by communities during public consultation,” said the LCSP report.
Among its recommendations are: maintain the resourcing of community policing in the area and maintain the resourcing of a dedicated drug unit.
But these are the units now under threat.
Garda success at the apex of the drugs trade is essential, but Operation Tara, a key project for Commissioner Harris, pledges to target all levels of the drugs trade.
Setting aside the big legal issues, without State investment on the ground - in drug units and community policing, as well as youth interventions and drug and family supports - the “monster” will keep on devouring and the cartels of the future will fester.