Kinahan Cartel Boss Ordered to Pay €1.7m or Face More Jail Time

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A senior member of the Kinahan organised crime group has been ordered to repay over €1.7 million to the British authorities or serve an additional 12 years in prison.

Thomas ‘Bomber’ Kavanagh, 57, originally from Drimnagh, Dublin, led the United Kingdom operations for the Kinahan cartel and is currently serving a 21-year prison sentence. He was convicted in March 2022 for orchestrating drug shipments worth approximately €34 million, trafficking illegal firearms, and laundering substantial amounts of money. Now, a ruling under the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) adds fresh legal pressure on the notorious gangster.

The National Crime Agency (NCA), which is Britain’s lead agency tackling serious and organised crime, confirmed the development on Friday. Officers estimate that Kavanagh amassed criminal profits of around €13.7 million. However, only €1.7 million in assets were deemed recoverable. He has been given three months to hand over the funds or face more than a decade of additional jail time.

Cartel Crackdown

Kavanagh was apprehended at Birmingham Airport in January 2019 as he returned from a holiday. Investigators subsequently launched an extensive probe into his financial dealings and property holdings. Among the assets now being seized is a 50 per cent share in his heavily fortified home in Tamworth, Staffordshire. Authorities also confiscate proceeds from selling other UK properties, a Spanish villa, and roughly €171,000 worth of designer items, including bags and clothing.

In connection with the same operation, another high-ranking Kinahan associate, Gary Vickery, aged 43, has also been hit with a confiscation order. Vickery was previously arrested after officers discovered 15 kilograms of cocaine and over 220 kilograms of cannabis hidden in an industrial tarmac removal machine at Dover. He has been ordered to repay €124,000 within three months or face another two years in prison.

Kavanagh and Vickery had seized luxury items, including an €85,000 Audemars Piguet watch and over €100,000 in cash in a hotel room.

In a further twist, it emerged that Kavanagh attempted to manipulate his sentence by directing trusted associates, Shaun Kent and Liam Byrne, to obtain and bury firearms, with plans to later reveal their location to authorities in a bid to reduce his time behind bars. That plot led to new charges of perverting the course of justice and additional firearms offences. All three men were convicted, and Kavanagh received an extra six years on top of his original sentence.

Kay Mellor, Head of Operations HQ at the NCA, stated: “Thomas Kavanagh was the head of the UK’s arm of the Kinahan organised crime group, responsible for the importation and distribution of drugs and firearms, making millions of pounds in the process. He and his gang believed they were untouchable, but that proved to be their downfall.”

Adrian Foster, Chief Crown Prosecutor, added: “This successful £1 million Confiscation Order demonstrates the prosecution team’s commitment to work across borders to strip organised criminals of their illegal gains.” He confirmed that those who refuse to pay will be returned to court and face longer sentences.

In the past five years, over £478 million has been retrieved through Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) Confiscation Orders, with £95 million returned to victims as compensation.