Suspected Irish crime gang boss Daniel Kinahan has been handed over to the authorities from his home country after being extradited from Dubai, state media reports.
Kinahan, who was arrested in Dubai in April, was named as one of three leaders of the Kinahan organised crime group by the United States in 2022 when it offered a $5m reward for their arrest.
He was also identified in the High Court in Dublin as a senior figure who “controlled and managed” the operations of the organised crime group.
The extradition comes after several months of preparations following the arrest of the Dublin boxing promoter.
Kinahan, aged in his late 40s, was detained on foot in April after an arrest warrant was issued by the Irish courts in relation to alleged serious organised crime, including drug and firearms offences.
An Irish government jet took off from Casement aerodrome in Baldonnel on the outskirts of Dublin on Saturday morning.
According to The Times, it has now taken off from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and is due to arrive in Ireland this evening.
It is one of the biggest security operations the Irish government has ever launched, The Times reports, adding that snipers on roofs, bomb-proof vans for transportation, decoy vans and signal jammers in prison ceilings will be deployed to bring him to trial.
Kinahan spoke about the process on Saturday, leaving a voice message that was shared on Instagram by podcaster James English, in which he said that he was “looking forward to getting back home”.
He said: “The security is going to be crazy. I am sitting here reflecting a little.
“Then I’m thinking of what happened, how I got here, all the stuff that’s happened in my life, the whole lot, just reflecting. It’s like bittersweet. It’s going to be nice to get back.
“I was always proud to be Irish.I wanted to do good things and big things but obviously life didn’t go that way for me with all the stuff and all the media, what people think of me you know and the perception they have of me, but I am still so proud to be from Ireland.
“I’m looking forward to getting back home.”
In 2016, an attempt was made on Kinahan’s life at a boxing weigh-in at the Regency Hotel in Dublin.
After that, he left Ireland, first to go to the Costa Del Sol in Spain and later settling in Dubai.
The Kinahan cartel was involved in a feud with the rival Hutch crime gang in Ireland, which began in 2015 and resulted in 18 deaths.