Gardaí have gathered significant intelligence on powerful Irish criminals involved in international drug dealing, made arrests and seized evidence after Irish detectives were part of a European and North American operation that infiltrated an encrypted messaging system.
In one element of the Irish investigation, some five arrests have been made, cocaine valued at €6 million seized and several hundred thousands of euros has also been seized. However, the inquiry is ongoing.
The Irish Times understands a drugs gang which is from Dublin was a significant target of the operation, as were other figures in the drugs underworld in the Republic. There have been some arrests of Irish suspects, with evidence seized from them.
Other Irish criminals have been targeted in search operations, with evidence relating to them seized, and now significant criminal investigations into them.
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Europol has described the operation as “a major action against an encrypted communication platform used for criminal activities, such as large-scale drugs trafficking, homicides and money laundering”.
As well as the Garda and Europol, the infiltration of the encrypted messaging platform and the use of the evidence extracted from it has also involved the FBI, Canadian Mounted Police, French National Gendarmerie and Australian Federal Police. There has also been involvement by the authorities in Iceland, Italy, the Netherlands and Sweden.
The largest Irish gang caught up in the international inquiry has been a target of the Garda’s specialist units for decades. Its members have served lengthy prison sentences in the Republic and elsewhere in Europe.
Though not on the scale of the Kinahan cartel, it is regarded as having profited from the demise of the cartel’s Irish operation, which was effectively crushed as part of the Garda’s response into the Kinahan-Hutch feud from 2016.
The same gang, which is the largest Irish criminal group seriously compromised by the infiltration of the encrypted messaging platform, made significant progress expanding during the pandemic years. Gardaí believe that group owned some of the largest sums of cash and biggest consignments of drugs seized in recent years, including during the pandemic.
The leading figures in the gang, who are from Dublin, were already under investigation before the intelligence about their activities was secured by the Garda after the private messaging platform was infiltrated. They have been targeted in major search operations in recent years, with their cash and drugs seized by the Garda specialist units, as well as some of their assets.
While the gang has a significant presence in Ireland, it has also had contacts into the international drugs market for many years. The securing of intelligence against the key figures is regarded as a major blow to what is now one of the Republic’s largest drugs gangs.
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