US offers reward of five million dollars for information on Kinahan gang linked to Edinburgh drug scene

The US government is offering $5m for information on the Irish Kinahan crime gang which has strong ties to Edinburgh’s drug scene or for the arrest and conviction of its leaders.

The crime clan includes Daniel Kinahan, a well-known figure in boxing circles as a co-founder of the MTK Global agency, which represents a number of boxing's top fighters including East Lothian slugger Josh Taylor.

Mr Kinahan says he cut ties with the company in 2017 but was photographed recently in Dubai with Tyson Fury.

Tranent’s multiple world champion title-holder Taylor is represented by MTK Global snf once described Mr Kinahan as a "great advisor" who is doing great things for the sport of boxing.

Wanted: Daniel Kinahan, whose agency represented Prestonpans world champion Josh Taylor. Pic: US DEA

America has imposed sanctions against seven senior members of the Kinahan crime gang as part of a bid to target their financial operations. It is suspected the crime clan is behind huge shipments of drugs into Edinburgh and Glasgow.

US ambassador to Ireland Claire Cronin told an event at Dublin City Hall that the US department of the treasury is offering a reward of five million US dollars (£3.8 million/4.6 million euro) for information that will lead to the “financial destruction” of the Kinahan crime gang or the arrest and conviction of its leaders.

Speaking at the event, Garda Commissioner Drew Harris said the Kinahan gang is worth more than one billion euro through its criminal enterprise.

Mr Harris warned senior gang members that they can run but “can’t hide from justice forever”, adding that they will eventually run out of money.

Josh Taylor praised Kinahan's role in representing him in big fight negotiations.

Among those sanctioned by the US department of the treasury’s office of foreign assets control (OFAC) were its key members, including leaders Christy Kinahan Snr, Daniel Kinahan and Christy Kinahan Jnr.

They were named as being heads of the criminal network.

Also named and sanctioned were their associates Sean McGovern, Ian Dixon, Bernard Clancy and John Morrissey.

A number of businesses were also identified as being associated with the crime gang.

In a statement, the US department said the action is the result of close collaboration between OFAC, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the US department of state, An Garda Siochana, the UK’s National Crime Agency and the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation.

In a lengthy statement, the US treasury office said that the Kinahan crime gang, which operates in Ireland, is also established in the UK, Spain, and the United Arab Emirates.

It described their operations as a “significant transnational criminal organisation”.

It said the gang emerged in the late 1990s and early 2000s as the most “powerful organised crime group” operating in Ireland.

Since then, Irish courts have said that the Kinahan gang is a “murderous organisation” involved in the international trafficking of drugs and firearms.

Criminal activities include international money laundering, generating proceeds in the UK, which are then pooled together and passed to local criminals before being handed to Irish organised crime group members and laundered out of the UK.

The Kinahans also frequently use Dubai as a facilitation hub for its “illicit activities”.

Since February 2016, the criminal gang has been involved in a gang war with another group in Ireland and Spain, resulting in numerous murders, including of two innocent bystanders.

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