The UK’s National Crime Agency declared caging Kinahan lieutenant Thomas “Bomber” Kavanagh was one of its major operational successes of 2022.
The thug’s 30-plus years involved in serious and organised crime came to an end in March when he was jailed for 21 years by a British court. It followed a huge investigation spanning eight countries that linked him to 23 shipments of cocaine and cannabis worth €36million smuggled inside heavy machinery.
Gardai - who worked closely with the NCA in the probe - had established that Kavanagh, 54, was Daniel Kinahan’s No 2 in the cartel and whilst running a drugs empire in the Midlands of England, he was also directing murders as part of the feud against the Hutch family.
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The NCA said: “Thomas Kavanagh was a high-ranking member of the Kinahan cartel - an Irish network involved in drugs supply, firearms and money laundering. He was arrested by the NCA after arriving into Birmingham Airport in 2019.
“It came after the NCA were able to link his gang to numerous importations of drugs and weapons, hidden inside industrial machinery and shipped to sites in the West Midlands. He ran his empire from a fortified mansion, complete with reinforced doors and bulletproof glass in Staffordshire.
“When the NCA raided the house they found weapons and bundles of cash stuffed in bags, drawers and even down the back of sofa cushions. His organisation was able to organise, import and distribute drugs worth many millions of pounds; it was dismantled after a six-year investigation by the NCA.
“These men considered themselves to be untouchable, but we were able to prove that this was not the case.” It said it was one of its “major operational successes of 2022.”
The NCA’s investigation began in 2016, which coincided with the Kinahan mob’s war on the Hutch crime gang. The murder of David Byrne - Kavanagh’s brother-in-law - at Dublin’s Regency Hotel in February 2016 majorly escalated the feud, which overall has claimed 18 lives in Ireland and Spain.
At Byrne’s extravagant mafia-style funeral, surveillance by gardai saw them picture each person at the service in a bid to identify key members of the Kinahan gang. Kavanagh was a leading figure, despite leaving Ireland over 20 years beforehand, and another man was later identified as Declan Brady, later nicknamed “Mr Nobody” because he was so under the radar.
The following year, the gardai made the breakthrough which proved vital in the operation to capture Kavanagh. In January 2017, gardai made a significant seizure of firearms and drugs as they targeted Brady.
They discovered documents relating to a UK Midlands-based freight and logistics firm linked to Kavanagh’s gang. Gardai established that Brady was operating as Kavanagh’s “right hand man”
Speaking recently, Det Chief Supt Seamus Boland explained the importance of jailing Kavanagh. The senior garda said: “I’ve been involved in investigations [into] organised crime for 33 years and Kavanagh is probably one of the most significant convictions I have seen.
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“I think it was obvious to anyone who watched the aftermath of the Regency. At Byrne’s funeral, Kavanagh held a very prominent position where a message was clearly being given that he was in charge of the organisation.
Our investigations identified Thomas “Bomber” Kavanagh having some very significant meetings. “Some of the people he was meeting were convicted of serious criminal activity surrounding the targeting of people for murder in the course of the Kinahan/Hutch feud.
“So Kavanagh absolutely was a person of critical importance in the course of the Hutch and Kinahan feud.” Kavanagh being slapped with a lengthy sentence was the first major blow landed on the cartel this year.
But less than a month later the US government hit Christy Kinahan Snr and his sons Daniel and Christy Jnr with sanctions and a €5m bounty on their heads.
Kavanagh remains the most senior member of the cartel to be jailed.
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