Kinahan drugs cartel leader is guilty of stockpiling guns

by · Mail Online

An Irish cartel leader and his associates have admitted stockpiling firearms and acting as informants to try to get him a lighter sentence for drug smuggling.

Thomas 'Bomber' Kavanagh, 57, his brother-in law Liam Byrne, 43, and Shaun Kent, 38, were arrested after an investigation by the National Crime Agency — dubbed Britain's FBI.

Kavanagh, a leader of the feared 'Kinahan' cartel, is currently serving a 21-year sentence for masterminding a £30m drug smuggling operation.

The trio appeared at the Old Bailey today and admitted firearms charges.

Kavanagh, Kent and Byrne admitted two counts of conspiracy to possesses a prohibited weapon and two counts of conspiracy to possess ammunition for a firearm without a certificate between 9 January 2020 and 3 June 2021.

Irish cartel leader Thomas 'Bomber' Kavanagh, 57, his brother-in law Liam Byrne, 43, and Shaun Kent, 38, admitted stockpiling firearms and acting as informants to try to get him a lighter sentence for drug smuggling
Kavanagh, a leader of the feared 'Kinahan' cartel, is currently serving a 21-year sentence for masterminding a £30m drug smuggling operation 
Kavanagh lived with his family in a lavish fortified mansion, complete with reinforced doors and bulletproof glass, in Tamworth, Staffordshire, from where he ran his criminal empire

While in custody awaiting sentence at Ipswich Crown Court Kavanagh masterminded a plot together with Kent, Byrne and others to amass firearms from the UK, the Netherlands, the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

Read More

Inside the Kinahan Cartel: How Dublin crooks built a £1BILLION global empire linked to murder, drug-smuggling and gun-running - as alleged bagman 'Johnny Cash' is arrested in Spain

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

Kavanagh spoke to the NCA and told them weapons had been brought to the UK from Holland.

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 had been passed information on the gang after French authorities hacked the encrypted chat EncroChat in April 2020. The NCA used this information to determine that Kavanagh was lying.

Byrne was charged after being extradited from Spain after being arrested as he holidayed in Majorca. Kavanagh and Kent also admitted perverting the course of justice. 

A provisional date for sentence was set for 21 and 22 October.

Kavanagh 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. 

When officers raided Kavanagh's home, they seized cash worth around £35,000, which had been stuffed into drawers, bags and down the back of sofa cushion
The seized cash was in various denominations, including sterling, dollars, euros and Emirati dirhams

Kavanagh, originally from Dublin, was described by the National Crime Agency as the 'top man' in the UK for the Kinahan organised crime group, which operates in Ireland.

Kavanagh lived with his family in a lavish fortified mansion, complete with reinforced doors and bulletproof glass, in Tamworth, Staffordshire, from where he ran his criminal empire.

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 Kavanagh 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.

Kavanagh was jailed for 21 years at Ipswich Crown Court shortly after his arrest.