Kinahan cartel ‘no longer exists’ in Ireland, says gardaí, as Hutch gang remains active

Detective Chief Superintendent Séamus Boland said investigations will not finish until gardaí achieve the 'complete and utter dismantling' of the Hutch and Kinahan organised crimes groups and the prosecution of their leaders. File Picture: PA

The Hutch crime group is still a “primary” drug trafficking gang in Ireland, but the Kinahan cartel “no longer exists” in this country as it did at the “height of its power” a decade ago, An Garda Síochána's top gangland investigator has said.

Detective Chief Superintendent Séamus Boland warned, however, that while the Kinahan cartel has gone “quiet” within Ireland, experience shows such gangs will “always come to the fore again”. However, he stressed gardaí are watching them.

The head of the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau (DOCB) said almost 100 associates of the two groups were successfully prosecuted since 2016.

He said investigations will not finish until gardaí achieve the “complete and utter dismantling” of both groups and prosecution of their leaders.

He was speaking on the eve of the 10th anniversary of the Regency Hotel attack by the Hutch gang on February 5, 2016, which led to the death of Kinahan lieutenant David Byrne.

That assault followed the murder of Gary Hutch, the nephew of Gerry ‘The Monk’ Hutch, in Spain in September 2015, in what is seen as an internal war in the cartel.

Three gunmen, dressed as elite gardaí and brandishing military assault rifles, together with a gunman in drag and a man known as "flat cap" carried out the Regency Hotel attack. It ignited the Kinahan-Hutch feud in Ireland that claimed 18 lives — 16 by the cartel.

At a briefing in Dublin, Det Chief Supt Boland said:

• 98 associates of the two gangs have been successfully prosecuted — 83 linked to the Kinahan cartel and 15 connected to the Hutch gang;
• 51 garda interventions in threat to life operations have been carried out;
• 70 firearms, and almost 4,400 rounds of ammunition, have been confiscated;
• €32m of drugs and more than €11m in cash have been seized.

'Killing for the sake of killing'

The Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau chief said other cases are in the courts, adding that further prosecution files are “currently under consideration” by the DPP, including those related to cartel boss Daniel Kinahan.

He described the Regency Hotel attack as “similar to the terrorist attacks” in Europe at the time, calling it the “worst organised crime attack in the history of the State”. He said the feud descended to “killing for the sake of killing”.

He said the Hutch organised crime group is “still a primary organised crime gang in this jurisdiction”, which is “heavily involved in drug trafficking”.

He said the Kinahan organised crime group “no longer exists today as it did back in 2016, when it was at the height of its power”.

However, he warned that when “significant criminal gangs appear to go quiet, it's always important that we do not sit back”. He said that experience shows “they will always come to the fore again”.

Asked about the threat of renewed violence posed by the release of lieutenants from both groups, he said: "We will continue to be focused on all of those people in relation to the potential for feud activity to continue. That's a matter we must always be conscious of."

Det Chief Supt rejected assertions that the absence of a conviction for the murder of David Byrne — including the collapse of the Patrick Hutch trial and the acquittal of Gerry Hutch — was a failure for An Garda Síochána.

 “I definitely don’t see it as a failure”, he said, adding five people had been convicted of related matters.

• Cormac O'Keeffe is the Security Correspondent with the Irish Examiner.