Kinahan cartel boss Thomas 'Bomber' Kavanagh admits EnchroChat firearms plot hatched behind bars

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

Kinahan cartel boss Thomas 'Bomber' Kavanagh made a dramatic u-turn in court pleading guilty to a firearms plot he masterminded behind bars. Kavanagh, from Tamworth, and his associates hoarded guns in a bid to act as informants and secure him a lighter sentence for drug trafficking, a court was told.

Thomas 'Bomber' Kavanagh, 57, his brother-in-law Liam Byrne, 43, and Shaun Kent, 38, were nabbed following an investigation by the National Crime Agency.

Kavanagh, a kingpin of the notorious 'Kinahan' cartel, is currently serving a 21-year stretch for orchestrating a £30m drug smuggling racket. While on remand awaiting sentencing at Ipswich Crown Court, he hatched a scheme with Kent, Byrne and others to accumulate firearms from the UK, the Netherlands, the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

READ MORE: Watch: Dramatic moment crime kingpin Thomas ‘Bomber’ Kavanagh arrested at Birmingham Airport

Their plan was to tip off the NCA about the weapons stash so Kavanagh could bag a reduced sentence. Kavanagh contacted the NCA and informed them arms had been transported to the UK from Holland.

He provided a map which guided police to a farm in Northern Ireland where they unearthed two holdalls buried underground containing eleven sub-machine guns. However, the NCA had received intel on the gang after French authorities cracked the encrypted chat EncroChat in April 2020, reports the Irish Mirror.

The NCA used this information to deduce that Kavanagh was stringing them along. The trio appeared at the Old Bailey today and pleaded guilty to firearms charges. Kavanagh, Kent and Byrne admitted two counts of conspiracy to possess 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.

Kavanagh and Kent have pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice. Byrne was charged following his extradition from Spain, where he was arrested while on holiday in Majorca. A preliminary sentencing date has been scheduled for 21 and 22 October.

Kavanagh was previously arrested at birmingham-airport>Birmingham Airport as police finally shut down his criminal network. He previously lived with his family in a fortified mansion, complete with reinforced doors and bulletproof glass, in Tamworth, Staffordshire, from where he ran his criminal empire.