The Irish Government jet is on its way to Dubai for the extradition of alleged gangland figure Daniel Kinahan.
It comes after several months of preparations following the arrest in April in the United Arab Emirates of the Dublin boxing promoter who is an alleged leader of the Kinahan organised crime group.
Kinahan, aged in his late 40s, was detained on foot of an arrest warrant issued by the Irish courts in relation to alleged serious organised crime offences.
The Irish Government jet took off from Casement Aerodrome in Baldonnel on the outskirts of Dublin on Saturday morning.
It is expected to touch down in Ireland on Sunday evening.
Kinahan’s arrest was carried out in accordance with a bilateral agreement on extradition between Ireland and the UAE.
The High Court in Dublin previously named Kinahan, who has recently been living in the UAE, as a senior figure in an organised crime gang involved in international drug trafficking and firearms offences.
The Kinahan cartel was involved in a feud with the rival Hutch crime gang in Ireland, which began in 2015 and resulted in 18 deaths.
Daniel Kinahan was detained on foot of an arrest warrant issued by the Irish courts in relation to alleged serious organised crime offences
The Irish Government jet is on its way to Dubai for the extradition of alleged gangland figure Daniel Kinahan
In 2016, an attempt was made on Daniel Kinahan’s life at a boxing weigh-in at the Regency Hotel in Dublin.
In 2022, US authorities issued a reward of up to five million dollars (4.3 million euro/£3.7 million) for Kinahan’s arrest.
Pending his arrival, the Irish Prison Service has purchased a bomb-proof van to transfer him between locations should an attack take place either to kill or attempt to free Kinahan.
The cartel is considered to be one of the most powerful criminal groups in the world and has close links to Iran and Hezbollah.
Kinahan, along with other members of the criminal group, had been living openly in Dubai, following a gangland feud that claimed 18 lives on the streets of Dublin and Spain’s Costa del Sol.
His transfer to Irish custody comes after years of international diplomacy and legal battles to have Kinahan arrested.
It comes as Kinahan recently spoke from Dubai’s Al Awir Central Jail with podcaster James English. Excerpts of the phone interview were released on social media.
In the interview, he admitted he has ‘not been an angel’ but insists, without irony, that he has been used as a ‘scapegoat’ by both the media and the Garda (the Irish police).
Of his imminent extradition to Ireland on charges of directing organised crime, he said: ‘I’m happy now today to get on an Emirates flight or whatever flight they want, in baggage class, economy class, any class they want.’
Then he added conspiratorially: ‘So if I happen to fall and bang my head when I have handcuffs on me, I didn’t fall. If I end up hanging myself, killing myself, poisoning myself, it didn’t happen. I’m not suicidal.’
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