Jack Kavanagh, the son of Kinahan cartel leader in Britain Thomas ‘Bomber’ Kavanagh, has been extradited from Spain to face criminal charges linked to his father’s activities.
The extradition of Kavanagh Jnr (24) has taken place almost one-and-a-half years after he was arrested in Spain at the request of the British authorities.
His father and his uncle - former Kinahan cartel leader in Ireland, Liam Byrne (43) - have already pleaded guilty to the firearms charges they faced and were due to be sentenced later this month.
The three men, and a number of others, all face charges relating to the same firearms conspiracy, which the National Crime Agency (NCA) investigated in the UK.
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Kavanagh Jnr grew up in Britain, where his father fled after first being targeted in a Criminal Assets Bureau inquiry in the 1990s and also became the Kinahans’ trusted leader there.
The 24-year-old, with an address in Tamworth, is accused of “being involved in the supply and acquisition of firearms”, according to the NCA. It added the charges arose after it uncovered messages on the secretive messaging system EncroChat.
“Jack Kavanagh is the second associate linked to the Kinahan OCG who has been returned to the UK, after thinking he could evade us,” said Craig Turner, deputy director of investigations at the NCA.
“Our work to target the alleged criminal activities of the crime group continues. Our global reach, and ongoing partnership with international law enforcement agencies should act as a warning to anyone who thinks they can go on the run and avoid facing justice – we will not stop until you are back in the UK and behind bars.”
Those messages allegedly link the men to a gang, based in Britain, that was acquiring and selling firearms and ammunition to other crime gangs. A haul of 11 firearms linked to the alleged gun running conspiracy was recovered after information supplied by Thomas Kavanagh in a bid to secure a shorter sentence for his drug dealing.
Kavanagh Jnr was arrested in May, 2023, travelling through Malaga on his way from Dubai to Turkey. He had fought his extradition to the UK, though it finally took place last Friday, though the NCA only confirmed on Wednesday he was in the UK.
The charges against him include conspiring to: possess a firearm without a certificate; possess ammunition for a firearm without a certificate; possess a prohibited weapon; possess prohibited ammunition; pervert the course of justice.
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