Daniel Kinahan extradition op underway as Govt jet travelling to Dubai for handover of Ireland’s most wanted fugitive

DANIEL Kinahan will land on Irish soil for the first time in over a decade tomorrow ahead of being charged before the Special Criminal Court. The 49-year-old is being brought home on the Government jet, which is expected to land at Baldonnel Aerodrome, the military airbase to the southwest of Dublin, on Sunday afternoon. Daniel Kinahan will be returned to Ireland this weekend The 49-year-old is being brought home on the Government jet The Dassault Falcon 6X departed at 10.31am this morning and is currently in transit to Dubai. Kinahan, Ireland’s most wanted fugitive, will be handed over by authorities in the UAE to specialist gardai, including those attached to the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation’s Extradition Unit. Sign up for The Sun newsletter Thank you! When Kinahan lands back home tomorrow, he will be brought down the steps of the flight and met by a senior investigating officer who will formally arrest him. It will mark Kinahan’s first time back in Ireland since February 15, 2016 for David Byrne’s funeral, who was shot dead at the Regency Hotel 10 days beforehand. Kinahan is to be handed over to gardai imminently Kinahan has been based in Dubai The major security operation on the ground will also kick in, with overtime in place for armed gardai in Dublin. Kinahan will be transported to the Criminal Courts of Justice, and a short hearing at the Special Criminal Court will follow. Armed officers will also be on patrol around the court, and members of the ERU and GNDOCB will also be inside the court. Kinahan will be charged with directing the activities of an organised crime gang between 2015 and 2017. Most read in The Sun The Irish Sun understands it is an all-encompassing charge that covers a range of crimes, including orchestrating a series of murders and attempts on life. It is understood investigators will allege he is the man behind encrypted Pretty Good Privacy messages sent by ‘Cap’ and ‘Bon’. This reportedly includes being in direct contact with Sean McGovern, named in court as the Kinahan cartel’s main man on the ground in Ireland as far back as October 2015. Messages between ‘Cap’ and McGovern discuss Hutch associate James ‘Mago’ Gately just one month after the cartel murder of Gary Hutch in Spain. Investigators suspect the gang was attempting to target Gately as far back as then. Gardai will also allege Kinahan was in direct communication with McGovern in a botched attempt to kill Gerry ‘The Monk’ Hutch in Lanzarote in December 2015. However, the majority of crimes Kinahan will be accused of being involved in occurred after the failed attempt on his life by the Hutch gang at the Regency Hotel, in north Dublin, in February 2016. Cartel associate Byrne was murdered after he was shot six times when the Hutch mob stormed a boxing weigh-in at the hotel. The Regency attack kicked off a bloody retaliation by the Kinahan organised crime group, with 18 lives claimed as part of the feud. Detectives look set to contend that Kinahan can be linked to the alleged organisation of a series of murders and attempts on life over the following 14 months. It will be claimed he was in constant communication with McGovern during this period. Messages are understood to span up until Kinahan allegedly made direct contact with Imre Arakas, an Estonian hitman who was arrested before he got the chance to kill Gately in April 2017. It is alleged Kinahan directed crimes mostly from Dubai, where he was arrested on April 17. UAE cops swooped after officials examined a 200-page dossier detailing his alleged crimes after Ireland sought his extradition. Since then, Kinahan has been in custody at Dubai’s notorious Al-Awir Central Prison. The Dubliner launched an appeal against his extradition and was present in court on June 17, when he was told this had failed. He then brought the matter before the UAE equivalent of our Supreme Court, which ruled against him. The decision came earlier than first thought, expediting security plans for his return, which was originally expected in September. As part of plans for his return, a bomb and ballistic-proof van has been added to the prison fleet to transport Kinahan in a bid to thwart any escape attempt. The armoured vehicle was bought from Northern Ireland and has recently been registered here as the State prepares for his return. Sources say it has been modified to resemble other prison vans so Kinahan’s associates cannot easily identify it. After his appearance at the Special Criminal Court, he will be transported to Portlaoise Prison. The secure van holding him will drive in convoy with armed gardai all the way to the Laois slammer. Kinahan will be housed in the A Block, its most secure block. It already houses pal McGovern, who was caged for 24 years in June for his involvement in a murder and attempts to kill another target.