SMASHING GANGLAND: COPS
■ THUGS NOW No1 GANG IN IRELAND AS KINAHANS COLLAPSE ■ €16M DRUGS SEIZED & ENCRYPTED PHONES BUSTED IN GLOBAL OP
GARDAI say that the crime gang known as The Family are now a bigger drug-smuggling operation than the Kinahan cartel — but are confident they can take them down.
Officers believe encrypted chats uncovered in a major international operation will see leaders of what is now Ireland’s biggest crime gang prosecuted in court.
This paper understands that gardai are confident they will nail the leaders of west Dublin-based The Family after a massive international investigation led to the dismantling of an encrypted network — and the seizure of €16m worth of drugs in Ireland.
The encrypted network, known as Ghost, was successfully torn down following a two-year worldwide investigation entitled Operation Kraken, which has seen a total of 51 people arrested worldwide. It involved the likes of Europol, Australian Federal Police, America’s FBI and our own An Garda Siochana.
After seizing 42 encrypted devices, gardai are understood to have already tapped into conversations that they believe will bring them right to the door of the leaders of The Family.
On Monday an unprecedented day of action took place that saw over 300 specialist gardai, assisted by members of the FBI, Europol and the Australian Federal Police, carry out searches on 27 properties around Ireland — and seizing a total of over €16m worth of cocaine, cannabis and heroin.
Jeep
Officers also seized 126 phones in the searches — 42 of which have been determined to contain the Ghost encrypted network on them.
A search of a total of 33 properties saw €350,000 in cash, two cryptocurrency keys, 27 laptops, 200 SIM cards, six Rolex watches and a 2021 Range Rover jeep seized.
Sources say gyms and properties closely connected to The Family were raided by armed gardai — some of which was shown in dramatic video footage released by officers yesterday.Some 11 people were arrested.
Officers confirmed that the investigation targeted in total four criminal gangs that operate in Ireland.
Some €7m of that consisted of 100kg of cocaine which was found in a sophisticated hidden compartment in an articulated lorry.
At a major press conference at Garda Headquarters in Dublin yesterday, Detective Chief Superintendent Seamus Boland of the National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau stated that one of the gangs being targeted as part of this probe is currently the “primary” target for An Garda Siochana and the biggest drugs supplier in the country.
Asked by this paper about that, the senior Garda confirmed that the once-powerful Kinahan cartel is no longer the largest gang in Ireland — nor the target of this probe.
“I can rest assure you the Kinahan organised crime gang is no longer the primary organised crime gang in this jurisdiction or impacting on this jurisdiction,” he revealed.
He also stated Ireland’s criminal landscape is now “much more fragmented” and that the four gangs targeted in this probe now operate on their own — having once “been considered by us in the past as Kinahan affiliated organised crime gangs.”
“But the primary organised crime gang that’s impacting in this jurisdiction in relation to cocaine and heroin trafficking was targeted in this investigation,” he added.
Sources have confirmed that that gang is The Family — which is led by two brothers and has significantly expanded in its influence since crippling sanctions were imposed on the Kinahan cartel in 2022.
The gang is suspected to have made links in Europe and the US and was facilitating the distribution of drugs into Ireland.
Route
However, gardai revealed yesterday that a significant avenue for the gang to ship drugs into this country was successfully dismantled thanks to Operation Kraken — with a significant player, who is believed to have helped distribute the drugs via articulated trucks, being arrested.
At a major Europol press conference, Garda Assistant Commissioner Justin Kelly said gardai “dismantled a primary drugs trafficking route”.
Asst Cmmr Kelly said this operation was a “multi-national coalition” of nine countries, and stated that most major gangs here in Ireland are now “transnational in nature” and “purposely base themselves abroad to try to thwart the efforts of law enforcement.”
He said therefore it was vital that gardai work with countries around the world, saying “it takes a network to defeat a network.”
He said this operation targeted “four Irish organised crime groups” involved in drug trafficking and who use “violence and intimidation” to enforce their influence.
The senior officer stated that gardai gardai will not shy away from