The criminal known as ‘Mr Big’ was this week behind a million euro amount of cocaine seized from Dublin airport this week.
e 16 kilograms of coke were seized in a joint operation of Garda and Revenue led by intelligence services routed through the Garda’s new liaison office in Bogota, Colombia.
The drugs were tracked from South America through Germany and on to Dublin where it would be distributed.
Gardaí focuses on the criminal’s operation as he tries to grow in the vacuum left by the dismantled Kinahan organization, but says he is one of several major distributors in violation of informers providing information to the police .
He has become a major wholesaler on the north side of Dublin and through Meath and to the border areas.
Although he was always close to the Kinahan gang, he would also use his own suppliers.
The gang known as ‘The Family’ is the main concern on the south side of town and they too have grown at an unprecedented level in recent years.
However, both Mr Big and The Family have no ambitions to move abroad and are instead keen to stay on their own property meaning they are easier on the police from a tactical point of view.
Sources said a wealth of information is pouring in through crime hotlines set up to gather information about the newly sanctioned Kinahan gang, but the Garda’s presence in South America is also paying off.
Two Dublin Airport employees are being questioned on suspicion of drug trafficking after Gardaí seized the cocaine worth 1 million euros.
Two of the men in custody are Dublin Airport employees who are employed through an outside contractor.
The DAA confirmed that none of its employees were involved in the incident.
A third man arrested is the person who flew to Dublin. He is considered a Brazilian citizen.
The suspects are currently being held at Blanchardstown and Coolock Garda stations in the capital.
They are detained under Section 2 of the Criminal Justice (Drug Trafficking) Act 1996 and can be interrogated for up to seven days.
After the detention period has expired, they must either be charged or released pending a file with the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).
As underworld fixers become informers, new clues have opened up for officers trying to establish routes used by Big and The Family.
This week, the Kinahans were dealt another blow when two key figures from Manchester were arrested and nearly €7 million worth of cannabis was discovered in Co Kilkenny.
Officers from the Garda National Drugs and Organized Crime Bureau, along with the tax authorities, searched a business premises in Ballyhale in Kilkenny where the cannabis was found.
“The floodgates have opened. Not only are they dealing with drug and cash seizures, but we’re also citing significant figures working with them in the UK,” a source said.
“This is really intelligently guided research and the Kinahans and indeed Mr. Big will know how good the information is.”
The Kinahans are hit in multiple ways as the police come in for the final removal of their massive $1 billion organization.
With the collapse of the company they used to launder money, $5 million bounties on the heads of Christy Snr and Daniel and Christopher Jr and paranoia among their subordinates, everyone has let them down.
In the UK and Ireland, an unprecedented amount of Kinahan product has been seized in intelligently-run operations as they desperately try to keep the mass show on the road and paid their lieutenants for their silence.