senior Garda The delegation visited the police in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to discuss details regarding extradition kinahan-Sean McGovern, Hutch case murder suspect and senior figure in the Kinahan cartel.

Dubliner’s arrest dubaiand the charges he faces in the Republic pre-date the signing of the extradition agreement between Ireland and the UAE last week. This means McGovern’s extradition cannot take place under the new agreement, which is non-retroactive and must be treated as a special one-off process.

The Garda, Government and DPP are therefore now very keen to ensure that Ireland’s request to extradite McGovern meets all the legal criteria that must be met before the UAE agrees to return the murder suspect to the Republic for trial.

The Garda delegation to the UAE last week was led by Det Chief Supt Seamus Boland, head of the Garda National Drugs and Organized Crime Bureau. This team also included senior officers from the Garda’s Organized and Serious Crime branch, as well as members of the National Criminal Investigation Bureau, the Garda’s serious crime team.

After the delegation returned to Dublin on Friday, Garda headquarters issued a statement saying officers had gone to meet senior members of Dubai police “to discuss ongoing police co-operation” in the “relentless pursuit of organized crime groups both in Ireland and abroad”. ”.

The Irish Times understands the main item on the agenda is to carry out plans to extradite McGovern, who lives openly in Dubai despite being among seven men at the top of the Kinahan cartel approved by US authorities 2½ years ago.

Also attending the meeting in Dubai was a senior official from Interpol’s headquarters in Lyon, France, and the Garda liaison officer who is permanently based in the UAE.

“The recent signing of extradition and mutual legal assistance agreements between Ireland and the UAE is a very welcome development,” Garda Commissioner Drew Harris said on Saturday. he said. “(This) demonstrates the ongoing commitment of international law enforcement and governments to combat transnational organized crime.

“Specifically, this is another example of the significant policing, political and diplomatic efforts being made to pursue transnational organized crime groups and certain other individuals with a view to bringing them to justice.”

McGovern, 38, was arrested at his home in Dubai on October 10, nearly 2.5 years after it emerged that his extradition was sought by Irish authorities to face serious charges approved by the DPP.

McGovern was injured in the Regency Hotel shooting in 2016 and is now wanted in the Republic on charges of directing organized crime and the murder of Noel Kirwan, 62, in Dublin in December 2016. Mr. Kirwan was an innocent man who was shot and killed as part of the Kinahan-Hutch feud because he had connections to the Hutch family, some of whom were his friends.

McGovern had been openly living in Dubai in recent years and apparently believed he would not be arrested. However, he is now the first Kinahan cartel figure to be arrested in the UAE and remains in custody there.

McGovern, whose home in Crumlin, Dublin, was seized by the Criminal Assets Bureau, was described by the US Treasury Department in 2022 as “Daniel Kinahan’s advisor and closest confidant”. He added: “The evidence shows that all dealings with Daniel Kinahan were made through Sean McGovern.”