Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
The arrest of Daniel Kinahan in Dubai marks a major breakthrough in the Gardaí's long-running international pursuit of the Kinahan cartel. And today I'm joined by Niall Donald to answer your questions about the Kinahan cartel Kingpin's arrest. In part two, we look at why Kinahan did not leave Dubai ahead of his arrest and consider what escape options, if any, may have been available to him.
I'm Nicola Tallent and you're listening to Crime World, a podcast from crimeworld.com. Okay, so we're back for part two. I'm glad to see you still have some coffee left. That's what happens when you get giant ponders of cappuccinos. Well, it's needed. This is a really interesting question. And this came in actually on my own phone, on one of my social media. It was a direct message.
And I just plucked it and put it into this because I think this is fascinating, right? And the question is, why did Daniel not leave Dubai when McGovern got arrested?
Yeah. It is a really, really interesting question. So I suppose there's two bits to that.
Chapter 2: Why did Daniel Kinahan stay in Dubai before his arrest?
I mean, the first bit is where would he go? So he may feel that no matter where he goes in the world, beyond going to somebody, do you remember somebody was saying he's going to go to Afghanistan?
Yeah.
And thinking, just what is he going to do in Afghanistan? And how safe would he be depositing his millions in an Afghan bank? Well, Iran has kind of gone from now as well, has it? Iran has gone. I mean, again, if you've like, you know, a few million in your back pocket, are you going to trot up to Russia and trust everything is when you go down to the bank and put it in that it's going to be OK?
But I think the other aspect of it is, I think he has lived a sort of... A blessed life, really, in Dubai, where I think he really believed that he'd either have a tip off or that it would never happen.
He'd be protected. He was protected for a long time in that. Bear in mind, we said this in the first half as well. Up until 48 hours before his arrest, there was no warrant out for Daniel Kinahan. Daniel Kinahan was not a fugitive. He was... There was a number of investigations in a number of different territories in around him, his activities and the finances of his organized crime group.
But there was nobody with a definitive charge before the courts for him. So that's how he has been living. He, of course, I'm sure he would have liked a tip off. The warrant and the Interpol red notice was issued very much under the radar. Very few people knew about it and it was a job well done. It didn't leak at all, right?
But I don't totally understand in a way why he didn't go somewhere when McGovern got arrested. Not when McGovern got arrested, but when he got extradited and maybe when he pleaded guilty. there surely has been a plan somewhere in place. The world is a big place. There's a lot of states in Africa and in other parts of the world that would take the likes of Daniel Kinahan and his money in.
But he's got a lot of people to bring with him. He's got a lot of like, so he's Kiva Robinson, his wife. He has five children himself with three different women. Some of them are living out in Dubai. Some of them are not. She has three children from a separate relationship.
Some of those are grown up and probably are in relationships now and have friends and have... So there's this massive amount of people to bring with you for any sort of a life. And... And then there's his father and his brother and all their connections and their families and et cetera, et cetera.
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Chapter 3: What escape options were available to Daniel Kinahan?
So, I mean, it's hard to know, isn't it? And there's been various different reports. there was one report that they had a plan to go to Russia, but they pulled out at the last minute. There was another report that they, he expected to get this tip off and then he would make a plan.
So he'd get a tip off from within Dubai, not from Ireland, that if there was a warrant that he'd have a couple of weeks notice.
Well, his father was making a plan back in 2018 or 19 to go to Zimbabwe. And I think probably that was, you know, there's no doubt there was a plan in place. I don't think he was waiting to get a tip off that there was a warrant for him to make a plan there. There were plans there, I would imagine. But it's sort of, is it doable at all? You know, is it doable? Who goes with you? Where do you go?
How do you keep that secret? You know, how do you run, keep running? And that's the thing, the running. People who go on the run say it's a nightmare.
Or do you always believe... it's actually not going to happen. You think, of course it could happen, but it might not happen. Like I used to park at this place every... This is a random one. This is a random one. I used to, you know, I knew I could get a clamp, but I'd still park there all the time. And I just think, I don't know, I'll continue to get away with this.
And I'd nip into the shop or whatever. This is a very... Probably not equivalent to running a multi-billion euro cocaine empire. But I knew I could get clamped. But I just kept doing it thinking, I'm just going to keep getting away with it. And that's very much human nature, isn't it? I did get clamped and I haven't done it since.
But up until that moment, even though I knew I'm taking a chance here now, but you just keep doing it.
There is a human... On a deeper level, I think we all know that one day we will die, but we don't really believe we will. Exactly, exactly.
And that... there has to be a bit of that going on with him. He's got a lot of people around him, remember, yes men, who are telling him, yeah, sure, you'll never be caught. You always get away with it. You got away with Spain. You got away with things in Ireland. You're going to be grand. You're special. You're totally different than everybody else.
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Chapter 4: What did Daniel Kinahan's life look like in Dubai?
Yeah.
It's difficult to stay in communication. It's difficult to run a multi-billion... dollar, euro business while you're in hiding and you can't use communications and you're constantly afraid and looking over your shoulder. But anyway, I wouldn't take his life for a million, million dollars.
Okay, can I ask one? Go on. And there's a couple of versions of this, but is there any glimpse into his normal personality? Like what football team does he support? Or what hobbies, music is he into? And there's another couple of questions. Is he very intimidating? What is he like?
Okay, so I think there's two Daniel Kinnehans. There's the one he was when he was a young man in Dublin, growing up in Oliver Bond, when he wasn't a cartel boss and he hadn't taken over his father's business and he hadn't been drawn into that as such. Now he was in Dublin, I'm talking about up until his 20s. He was, you know,
peddling the father's drugs and he had people around him and he was forming what he would later become. But he was said to be a sound guy. Yeah. And people liked him and he was good fun. Yeah. Apparently he was, you know, not a big drinker, not a big drug taker. If there was ever anything to be tried, he'd give it to somebody else to give it a go.
He wasn't kind of, he would later, you know, definitely used everything that everyone else did. But on a night out.
Yeah.
He never kind of was one of these people that, you know, would wake up in the morning for a line of Coke or anything like that. So but he was he was liked and he was sporty and he was a charmer with the women and popular and a good friend and all the rest of that. Then let's get him to Spain. And from people I've spoken to, when he gets there, he turns into somebody else. He's out there.
He's in competition initially with his, you know, he's trying to be his father and he's trying to settle in and be the boss. There's other people out there. The Kinahan structure and the organization already existed. He was late to the table going out. And his father was very, very fond of Sam O'Sullivan, who was a young guy from Dublin who has been an associate of his father for a long time.
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