An international fugitive has been captured in Dubai after an extensive search spanning several years.

Daniel Kinahan, suspected to be the mastermind behind one of Ireland’s most notorious criminal organizations, the Kinahan cartel, was apprehended on Wednesday. This secretive operation was a collaborative effort between Irish and United Arab Emirates authorities, targeting organized crime activities.

The 48-year-old is anticipated to face legal proceedings in Ireland connected to a violent conflict between the Kinahan cartel and the Hutch gang, a feud that has claimed 18 lives since 2015.

While Dubai police did not disclose Kinahan’s identity, they confirmed the arrest of “an Irish fugitive linked to an organized criminal network involved in international offences in his native country.”

Irish media outlets identified the individual as Daniel Kinahan on Friday.

He was identified by Irish media outlets on Friday.

Ireland’s national police force, the Garda Síochána said an Irish man in his 40s was arrested under a warrant from the Irish courts.

“An Garda Síochána has been steadfast in our determination that we would pursue those allegedly involved in serious Organized Criminal activity, wherever they go,” the police said in a statement, according to The Irish Star. “Today’s arrest is another extremely important demonstration of the need for international law enforcement co-operation in tackling transnational organized crime.”

Members of An Garda Síochána in Dublin in February. (Natalia Campos/Getty Images)

Kinahan fled Ireland for Spain, then the UAE after he was the believed target in an assassination attempt that left an associate of the Kinahan cartel, David Byrne, dead at a boxing weigh-in at the Regency Hotel in Dublin.

The U.S. Treasury Department offered a reward of $5 million in 2022 for information leading to the arrest of the Kinahan cartel’s leaders or the organization’s “financial destruction.”

Spanish police officers in 2022 raided 11 locations in Spain and England, arresting four people linked to the largest known money laundering organization in Spain, suspected of laundering more than €200 million in 18 months. The main target is considered a high-value individual by Europol and connected to the Irish Kinahan cartel. (Spanish Civil Guard/Anadolu Agency)

The cartel is considered a juggernaut in the European drug trade, and, along with other European crime organizations, has created a “super cartel” that controls around a third of Europe’s cocaine trade.

Kinahan is also affiliated with the boxing world, and was the founder of boxing management company MTK Global.

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