The Criminal Assets Bureau launched a major blitz yesterday as they targeted a close associate of senior Kinahan cartel member Peadar Keating.
In early morning raids, CAB hit 10 separate locations , including four residential homes and four businesses in west and south Dublin as well as in Laois and Kildare.
A pub and a gym were raided as investigators seized assets which they believe were bought from the proceeds of crime.
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Plush Hublot, Rolex and Breitling watches were taken, as were designer clothes and expensive handbags.
Across all the sites, €22,000 in cash was seized while documents, records, hard drives and electronic devices were taken away for examination.
The target of the operation is a convicted drug dealer, aged in his mid 30s. He has close ties with Kinahan boss Keating, who is serving an 11-year sentence over the failed cartel plot to kill James “Mago” Gately in April 2017.
A Garda spokesman said: “This search operation targeted the commercial activities of a significant Dublin-based organised crime gang involved in drug trafficking and money laundering.
“Today’s action is noteworthy in the context of an ongoing proceeds of crime investigation targeting the assets and commercial interests of key individuals suspected of participating in and directing organised criminality.”
The criminal at the centre of the raids is a major drug trafficker into the capital and Daniel Kinahan’s mob have helped provide him with narcotics in the past.
Gardai believe his gang has been responsible for a number of murders while also rising to the top tier of organised crime in the capital.
The gym searched yesterday is run by this criminal’s pal in Dublin. A number of professional athletes have trained there while it also ran normal fitness classes.
Videos of some of the searches emerged on social media yesterday and in one a member of the Garda Emergency Response Unit is seen pointing his firearm at one of the houses.
No arrests were made during the course of the operation but it was only part of the wider investigation into the gang, sources said.
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