The Air Corps flight carrying Daniel Kinahan has taken off from Dubai, with the alleged cartel leader expected to land in Casement Aerodromeon Sunday evening ahead of a court appearance.
The Government jet departed Al Maktoum International Airport at about 10.30am Irish time and is expected to arrive in Baldonnel, Co Dublin around 7pm. Kinahan will be arrested on arrival and taken before the Special Criminal Court.
The Defence Forces flight, with a team of gardaí on board, flew out to Dubai yesterday morning.
The last leg of Kinahan’s extradition was under way on Sunday after years of investigations into his alleged activities by the Garda Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau.
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Senior Garda members and Government ministers also engaged in a diplomatic process with their counterparts in the United Arab Emirates to ensure an extradition treaty was put in place.
Dubliner Kinahan (49) is the first person to be extradited from UAE to the Republic under the new, permanent treaty, which came into force last year.
His cartel associate, Sean McGovern, was extradited from UAE last year, under a special once-off arrangement. McGovern has since been sentenced to 24 years for directing the Kinahan cartel’s crimes.
Kinahan, who has lived openly in Dubai for 10 years with his wife and children, is expected to face a charge of directing organised crime when he appears before the Special Criminal Court in Dublin’s north inner city on Sunday night.
A major security operation, involving armed gardaí from the force’s specialist units, will be in place to escort him from Baldonnel across the city to the court building, where security will also be tight.
After his court appearance, which is expected to be brief, he will be taken in a new bullet proof and blast proof Irish Prison Service van to Portlaoise Prison. He will be remanded in custody at that jail, a maximum-security prison, until his trial next year.
More to follow.
