Daniel Kinahan Said to Have Fled to Iran from Dubai, "Monk" Hutch Acquitted of Regency Hotel Boxing Shooting

 "Socalj" for Borderland Beat

Cartel boss Daniel Kinahan is believed to have fled Dubai and relocated to Iran as he desperately tries to avoid extradition to face justice in Ireland, the UK, Spain, and the US.

Daniel Kinahan has gone even further underground ever since the US State Department offered a $5 million reward for his arrest or information leading to the disruption of his finances. Those sanctions preceded a massive takedown of the so-called Super Cartel in Europe, a group of various multinational criminal organizations that based themselves out of Dubai with links across Europe, Asia, Africa, and South/Central America.

Daniel Kinahan

Iran does not have an extradition treaty with either Ireland or the United States. A Garda Supt along with DEA agents have been monitoring the Kinahan family in the United Arab Emirates. It is understood that if the leaders of the cartel, Christy Sr., and his sons Daniel and Christy Jr. are captured, the Irish Government is willing to let them stand trial in America. A government insider said, "There are serious charges against them in the USA and they should first face the music there, The punishment and the prisons are also far more severe than here."

Christy Kinahan Sr.

Last year, it was reported that Daniel's father Christy Kinahan Sr. was said to be a 'military fixer' for Iran trying to source fighter jets for them. They have also been allegedly laundering money through Iran. Christy is the founder of the Irish drug dealing gang turned cartel and his two sons, Daniel and Christy Jr, were sanctioned along with Sean McGovern, Johnny Morrissey, and Daniel’s childhood pals Ian Dixon and Bernard Clancy.

McGovern, who was wounded in the Regency Hotel attack that saw David Byrne shot dead during a bid to kill Daniel by the Hutch gang, is also wanted for his alleged role in the murder of Noel ‘Duck Egg’ Kirwan.

Gerry "The Monk" Hutch, clean-shaven days after his freedom.

Regency Hotel Shooting Acquittal

Gerry 'The Monk' Hutch will have to flee Ireland because the Kinahan Cartel is still desperate to murder him, gardai believe. Days after Hutch walked free from the Special Criminal Court after he was acquitted for the murder of David Byrne, sources have told The Mirror that Gardai suspect he will have no option but to leave.

Hutch had fled Ireland in mid-2016 after the cartel that is led by Daniel Kinahan went on a killing spree in multiple countries following the attack in March 2016 at the Regency Airport Hotel that left Kinahan associate David Byrne dead. Two groups of gunmen had attacked a boxing match weigh-in that Daniel Kinahan was a promoter of in order to kill him. 

A photo journalist captured images of the gunmen during and after the attack including one disguised as a woman.

The first group was that of two men, one disguised as a woman (believed to be Gary's brother Patrick, who had murder charges dropped against him in 2019) who began firing on the crowd. Then, four men with AK-47s and wearing Garda Emergency Response Unit uniforms entered the hotel as well, they ended up killing David Byrne inside the hotel before the gunmen fled.

The Regency Hotel attack is believed to be retaliation for the shooting death of Monk's nephew, Gary Hutch, who was Daniel Kinahan's right-hand man, in Spain by the Kinahans. Tensions arose in February 2014 when a €10 million drug shipment was seized. Gary was labeled a “rat”, which led to him recruiting a hitman to murder Daniel outside in Estepona in August of that year. However, the hit was a failure and the feud began. In the summer of 2015, a €200,000 compensation package was paid to the Kinahan Cartel as the Hutches sought to protect Gary. But only months later in September, Gary was shot dead.

Gary's father Patsy is suspected of planning the attack and this was presented during the not guilty judgment for Gerry "The Monk" Hutch. Patsy, who has survived three bids by the Kinahan Cartel to ­kill him, left his home hours after the Special Criminal Court heard how there was a “reasonable possibility” he had planned the Regency Hotel attack.

Patsy Hutch following the not guilty verdict of his brother.

As she read out the judgment that cleared "The Monk," Justice Tara Burns said: “A reasonable possibility arises on the evidence that the Regency was planned by Patsy Hutch and that Gerard Hutch stepped in, as head of the family, to attempt to sort out the aftermath of the Regency, particularly as his own life was at risk.”

The Special Criminal Court said that while Mr. Hutch had been in charge of the guns weeks after the Regency shooting, there was no evidence to prove he was one of the gunmen. Garda Commissioner Drew Harris said that he will meet with the Director of Public Prosecutions, Catherine Pierse, in relation to the failed prosecution. He also said that the Hutch Gang remains under "active investigation" and warned the crime group: "My gang is bigger than their gang."

The Monk Hutch following his not guilty verdict.

The cartel made "The Monk" their top target and put a bounty of more than €200,000 on his head. It is possible that the figure is now at €1,000,000 according to sources of Sunday World. Now that the Monk is a free man and has been found not guilty of the Byrne murder, sources say the cartel will still murder him if they get a chance. “He is their number one target and that has not changed,” said a source.

Following the not guilty verdict, one of the suspected gunmen in the Regency hotel attack had his home raided by gardaí. The target of the raid is a close associate of Hutch. He has been blamed by his former associates in the Kinahan cartel for involvement in the Regency attack. The senior member of the Hutch Organised Crime Gang (OCG) had his home targeted by armed gardaí in the north inner city yesterday.

A video seen by Sundayworld.com shows armed officers raiding his house in an early morning swoop. The senior member of the Hutch Gang, who cannot be named for legal reasons as he is before the courts on serious drug charges and other serious offenses, is considered a “major player” in the criminal gang, which is warring with the Kinahan Cartel.

Former Kinahan Gang Inmates Request Protective Custody

A number of Kinahan cartel members have been put into protective custody in prison at their own request. There are currently 20 to 30 Kinahan gang members serving sentences at Mountjoy Prison, several of them are known hitmen.

It is understood they no longer have the cash to pay for their drug debts as the Kinahan cash machine dries up. A prison source said: "These guys were getting a couple of hundred Euros a month from the Kinahan Cartel to pay for their drugs behind bars.

"They have now stopped receiving any cash as the Gardai, the DEA, and the Spanish authorities turn the screw on the whole Kinahan crime organization. The Kinahans is a spent force and no longer carry the power and the money that they had in this country. Some of these gang members have run up drug debts inside the jail and haven't got the money to pay for it. A number have asked the prison authorities to protect them because they are worried about their safety and fear they will be attacked by other gangs if they don't pay up."

Super Cartel figure Ridouan Taghi.

Dutch Secret Service Allegedly Plotted to Kidnap Super Cartel Leader 

A lawyer for Ridouan Taghi, one of the key figures of the Super Cartel, leader of the "Mocro-Maffia" group based in Morocco and the Netherlands, has claimed Dutch secret services had plotted to kill or kidnap the criminal kingpin when he was a fugitive in Dubai.

The alleged plot was to have taken place in 2019, at around the same time Dubai police almost arrested Daniel Kinahan, who they had actually mistaken for the wanted Dutch mobster. Taghi attended Daniel Kinahan’s wedding celebration at the Burj al Arab Hotel in 2017. 

It has been reported that the kidnapping plot reference is from recent statements in a separate criminal case against a member of the Dutch Commando Corps, known as The Korps Commandotroepen.

Named only as Sil A, the suspected drug smuggler revealed a few weeks ago during his criminal case how he was approached by, among others, a Dutch public prosecutor who discussed how Taghi could be kidnapped or liquidated in Dubai in 2019 by the elite special forces unit of the Royal Netherlands Army.

Weski has now asked the court to reopen the investigation by holding a pre-trial hearing to further investigate the information provided by Sil A.

She has claimed that the murder or kidnapping options were discussed during a meeting with soldiers and the Dutch intelligence services MIVD and AIVD, in the presence of “a female public prosecutor”.

The AIVD focuses mostly on domestic non-military threats to Dutch national security, whereas the Military Intelligence and Security Service (MIVD) focuses on international threats, specifically military and government-sponsored threats such as espionage. 

Taghi was later arrested in a dramatic bust by Dubai police authorities and extradited to the Netherlands. He is currently being held in a maximum-security prison where he is facing charges relating to 10 murders, drug trafficking, and leading a criminal organization suspected of the shooting death of a lawyer.

Sources Sunday World, Sunday World, Sunday World, Irish Independent, Irish Mirror, Irish Mirror, Irish Sun