The bureau has also seen a massive rise in the value of new asset seizure cases in the High Court, set to approach €100 million in 2019, compared to €8.2m in 2018.

The Criminal Assets Bureau has sent a file to the DPP in relation to six senior associates of the Kinahan crime cartel for suspected money-laundering offences.

Criminal gangs are showing their ‘flexibility’ by laundering their profits from criminal activity through the horse-racing industry and gyms, writes Cormac O’Keeffe