Son of Kinahan kingpin Thomas Kavanagh extradited to UK

The son of Kinahan cartel kingpin Thomas Kavanagh has been extradited to the UK to face trial for firearms offences. 

Jack Kavanagh, 24, from Tamworth in Staffordshire, was arrested at Malaga Airport in May 2023 while flying from Dubai to Turkey. 

He has now been escorted back to Britain by officers from the National Crime Agency (NCA) and was remanded in custody in London last week. 

Kavanagh is accused of being involved in the supply and acquisition of firearms after NCA investigators found messages on encrypted messaging platform Encrochat. 

It comes weeks after his father, Thomas, and uncle, Liam Byrne, pleaded guilty to possessing weapons and ammunition as part of the same police investigation.

Kavanagh appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court via video link on Friday and will appear at the Old Bailey on November 1. 

Craig Turner, Deputy Director of Investigations at the National Crime Agency, said: 'Jack Kavanagh is the second associate linked to the Kinahan OCG who has been returned to the UK, after thinking he could evade us.

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'Our work to target the alleged criminal activities of the crime group continues. Our global reach, and ongoing partnership with international law enforcement agencies should act as a warning to anyone who thinks they can go on the run and avoid facing justice – we will not stop until you are back in the UK and behind bars'.

Jack's father Thomas pleaded guilty to firearms charges last month.  

He was already serving a 21-year sentence after being jailed in March last year for masterminding a £30m drug smuggling operation. 

While in custody awaiting sentence at Ipswich Crown Court, Thomas masterminded a plot together with Byrne, 43, and a third man, 38-year-old Shaun Kent, to amass firearms from the UK, the Netherlands, the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. 

They then intended to tell the NCA where the firearms were so Thomas would get a reduced sentence.

Thomas spoke to the force and told them weapons had been brought to the UK from Holland.

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He produced a map which led police to a farm in Northern Ireland and two buried holdalls containing eleven sub-machine guns.

But the NCA - known as Britain's FBI - had been passed information on the gang after French authorities hacked the encrypted chat EncroChat in April 2020. 

They used this information to determine that Thomas was lying. 

A provisional date for the three men's sentencing hearing has been set for October 21 and 22. 

Thomas was arrested after police raided his luxury bullet-proofed mansion and found thousands of pounds worth of cash stuffed down the back of a sofa.

Thomas lived with his family in a lavish fortified mansion, complete with reinforced doors and bulletproof glass. 

When officers raided the property as part of a wider investigation to dismantle his drugs empire, in January 2019, officers found weapons, including knives, baseball bats, swords and an illegal stun gun for which the gangster was previously given a three-year jail sentence.

Officers also seized cash worth around £35,000 in various denominations, including sterling, dollars, euros and Emirati dirhams, which had been stuffed into drawers, bags and down the back of sofa cushions.