Crime kingpin Daniel Kinahan at one time was described as the most wanted man in the world. He and other family members are alleged to have set up a drugs ring in Dublin, Ireland more than a decade ago that now stretches across Europe and even further afield.
One example of the global nature of their operations is the $5million bounty put on the heads of Kinahan and family members by US Treasury officials for alleged drug trafficking. However over the years the Kinahan’s Scottish connections have played a leading role in advancing their criminal empire, estimated to be worth almost £1billion.
The Scottish connections date back more than a decade and are linked to an infamous and long-running feud between the Daniel and Lyons crime families in Glasgow. The Lyons family head Steven Lyons had moved to Marbella in Spain’s Costa Del Sol following an attempt on his life in Glasgow in 2006.
It was there he was said to have hooked up with the Kinahan family for the first time including Daniel Kinahan.
That link which was then said to have give the Lyons the upper hand in their turf war. In exchange, the Kinahans are believed to have secured a lucrative drugs distribution network in Scotland. Further Scottish connections were said to have been made through Robert
Kelbie, an alleged Lyons associate and convicted fraudster. Kelbie, from Ratho, Edinburgh has survived three attempts on his life and in 2021 helped to set up a gym on the Spanish island of Fuerteventura for MTK Global, a now defunct boxing promotion firm linked at the time to the Kinahans.
In the past Kelbie posted photographs of himself on Instagram giving the boxing champion Tyson Fury, who also has past links to MTK, a guided tour of Edinburgh.
Four years ago, US Treasury officials published a list of enforcers they believe to be working for the Kinahans, including John Morrissey, whose Scots wife, Nicola Morrissey, is listed as the sole director of Glasgow based international firm Nero Drinks. Morrissey is alleged to have provided the Kinahans with a link to Scotland through Nero Drinks, which sold the vodka brand of the same name.
The company was formed in March 2018 and at one time sponsored the football club Hamilton Academical. US Treasury officials have previously alleged that Nero Drinks was a front company created to hide Morrissey’s alleged criminal activity and to launder money.
As a result, Nero Drinks was banned from trading in the US. According to Companies House, accounts for the firm are long overdue and a motion for striking off has been made.
In September 2022 the Morrisseys, who married in a lavish ceremony at Dundas Castle, near Edinburgh, were arrested near their luxury home in Marbella. Nicola was given bail and Morrissey was later released after lodging a bail bond of £50,000. Morrissey denies the allegations.
The Spanish Civil Guard, which led the operation against Morrissey in 2022, have claimed he helped to launder up to £297,000 a day. In April it emerged the police operation that led to 66-year-old Morrissey’s detention had in turn led to arrests that month in Spain of seven alleged Lyons gang members.
The Kinahan crime operation has also been linked to the firebomb and machete attacks seen across Scotland in the last 18 months, targeting the Daniel family and associates of Edinburgh cocaine baron Mark Richardson.
The subsequent police investigation Operation Portaledge led to 64 arrests and lengthy terms of imprisonment for the perpetrators. The attacks were said to have been orchestrated by the former leader of the Rangers fans group the Union Bears and Lyons associate Ross McGill from his base in Dubai using a shadowy group called Tamo Junto.
It’s alleged that an associate of Mark Richardson paid for a £500,000 cocaine deal with fake money thus promoting the reprisals. McGill was kicked out of Dubai last October and his present whereabouts are unknown.
At one point McGill, Steven Lyons and Daniel Kinahan were all based there. Graeme Pearson, former Director General of the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency, says it will be interesting to see if the Kinahan and Lyons families still retain their influence in Scotland following Daniel Kinahan’s arrest and extradition from Dubai at the weekend.
Meanwhile Steven Lyons is sitting in a jail in Spain having been extradited earlier this year from Holland on money laundering charges. Mr Pearson added:”There will be a lot of communication from Kinahan to the outside about what he wants and what his allies wants and whether or not they have the firepower to ensure that their wishes are maintained rather than a new power coming into place.”
While an underworld source added:”For a number of years the Lyons with the help of the Kinahan’s have been all powerful in Scotland. “With the heads of both families in jail it remains to be seen who will now fill that vacuum and at what cost.”

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