Special agents infiltrate notorious cartel as global drug empire unravels
An undercover operation by the US has successfully penetrated the notorious Kinahan cartel's international drug trafficking network, court documents have revealed.
The American sting, which began in June 2022, exposed the Irish crime syndicate's growing ambitions to rival top-tier cartels like Mexico's Sinaloa by expanding into synthetic drugs, including methamphetamine and fentanyl. The intelligence breakthrough comes after eight men linked to the Kinahans, one of whom formerly advised ex heavyweight champion Tyson Fury, were jailed following a military-style operation on a £130m cocaine shipment in the Irish Sea last year.
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) operation began in Ankara, Turkey, where agents recruited a confidential informant known only by the codename 'Queen.' They then infiltrated the cartel's upper echelons and gained the trust of Opinder Singh Sian, a Canadian national allegedly connected to the Kinahans, the Italian mafia and Turkish traffickers.
Sian, who was arrested in Nevada last month, allegedly disclosed plans to smuggle meth to Australia and chemicals for fentanyl into the US via Canada. Under surveillance, Sian met with undercover agents posing as drug smugglers and held talks at a California restaurant in March 2023 to discuss large-scale trafficking via the Port of Long Beach.
US agents staged a dummy handover and traced shipments to Sydney using GPS-tracked containers. Parallel investigations in Australia targeted local distributors, while DEA operatives seized genuine narcotics for analysis and replaced them with dummy packages.
The covert operation highlighted the cartel's use of encrypted apps like Threema for communication. The infiltration marked a turning point in the global crackdown on the Kinahan organisation, long headquartered in Dubai and led by Christy Kinahan and his sons Daniel and Christopher Jr.
All three are subject to US sanctions and international arrest warrants, with a $5 million (£3.71 million) bounty placed on them. The revelations follow the dramatic seizure of 2.2 tonnes of cocaine on board the MV Matthew in Irish waters in September 2023, in the largest maritime drugs bust in the country's history.
Acting on international intelligence, Irish authorities tracked the Panama-flagged cargo vessel after it left Curaçao, Venezuela. As the ship entered Irish waters, elite soldiers from the Irish Army Ranger Wing fast-roped from helicopters in severe weather to board the vessel, while Naval Service crews issued warning shots during a high-speed pursuit.
A companion trawler, the FV Castlemore, had previously attempted multiple failed rendezvous with the MV Matthew to offload the cocaine. After running aground, the trawler's crew issued a distress call, inadvertently alerting authorities to the smuggling operation.
Voice messages recovered from Dubai-linked gang, including a figure named 'Captain Noah' – instructed the MV Matthew to jettison the drugs by lifeboat. However, the swift response by Irish forces led to the arrest of the crew and the seizure of the consignment.
The eight men sentenced for the trafficking operation included nationals from the UK, Iran, Ukraine, the Netherlands and the Philippines, with jail terms ranging from 13 and a half to 20 years.
Assistant Commissioner Angela Willis, of the Garda's Organised and Serious Crime Bureau, said: 'Transnational organised crime groups know no borders. They prey on people's vulnerability for their own financial gain. Life is cheap and protecting their core criminal interest – money – is their key priority.'
Three years ago, Fury said US government sanctions against Daniel Kinahan were "none of my business.' Prominent names in boxing were urged to cut ties with Kinahan, alleged to be the head of an Irish organised crime gang, after the US government targeted him with sanctions.
Kinahan has always denied any wrongdoing. He has previously been pictured with Fury, but at the time, the boxer said he had not had any business dealings with Kinahan "for a long time" and repeatedly insisted it was "none of his concern".
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