Champagne, jacuzzi, and games room discovered in Gardaí gangland searches

An indoor bar with 20 bottles of Dom Perignon champagne and a sunken bath with a jacuzzi were among the trappings of wealth uncovered during one of the searches on associates of the Kinahan crime cartel.

A total of 29 high-powered luxury cars, along with six high-end motorbikes were seized by the Criminal Assets Bureau and local gardaí in the massive operation.

In addition, up to €70,000 in euro and sterling notes were confiscated, along with 10 Rolex and Breitling watches, worth €50,000 to €150,000.

A total of 18 sites were searched, 11 of them family homes and seven businesses, including a car dealership, a pub and a number of accountancy and solicitor firms.

Ten cars were taken from the homes and 19 cars and six motorbikes were removed from the car dealership, owned by senior gang members.

At least seven of the homes searched were in a small patch of Crumlin, south Dublin, while an eighth house was located in nearby Drimnagh.

Three of the homes were described by gardaí as being “heavily fortified”.

In one of the homes, the Emergency Response Unit had to use machinery to rip electric steel gates out from the pillars as they could not force them open.

The team then used angle grinders to get through a reinforced second front door, which had a 15-point locking system and is estimated to have cost €7,000.

In the massively extended house, gardaí found:

• An indoor bar, stocked with around 20 bottles of Dom Perignon champagne, worth about €4,000.
• A sunken bath and jacuzzi.
• A gym.
• A games room.

They removed a white Mercedes AMG, which would be worth up to €100,000 if the genuine article but CAB officers are checking its authenticity.

Officers also removed a hard drive from the top-spec security system installed at the house which is used to identify people coming and going.

Six of the homes were in adjoining roads: Raleigh Square (2); Windmill Road (2), and Kildare Road (2).

Five belonged to one particular family, while another was owned by a senior associate. A relation of the family owned the house in Drimnagh.

The 10 cars that were taken from homes include three VW GTDs, a five series BMW, an Audi and a BMWx5 jeep. The latter vehicle alone could be worth up to €70,000.

CAB officers took away computers, laptops and phones, as well as a large amount of bank and other financial documentation.

Conveyancing documents at the solicitors firms that were searched will be examined to determine how the houses were purchased, where cash came from, and the people involved.

Sources said the CAB investigation had been going on for up to two years before the searches were conducted.