Gardai to attend Dubai extradition hearing to bring Kinahan cartel's Sean McGovern back to Ireland

Exclusive - The court hearing, will see McGovern, who was arrested by local police executing an Interpol Red Notice in a late night raid at his home in Dubai on Thursday, is expected to take place behind closed doors, and is unlikely to be publicised.

Gardai are expected to attend an extradition hearing in Dubai to bring arrested Kinahan cartel mobster Sean McGovern back to Ireland. Officers are hoping to attend a court hearing in which McGovern is entitled to challenge attempts to extradite him back to Ireland to face a murder charge - and a charge of directing a crime gang.

The court hearing, will see McGovern, who was arrested by local police executing an Interpol Red Notice in a late night raid at his home in Dubai on Thursday, is expected to take place behind closed doors, and is unlikely to be publicised.

A person is entitled to challenge extradition under UAE law under a number of grounds, and is entitled to have legal representation.

However gardai are confident they will soon be able to get McGovern on a plane back to Dublin, where he will be charged upon landing with the murder of Noel ‘Duck Egg’ Kirwan, directing a crime gang - and be hauled before the Special Criminal Court.
It comes as Interpol issued a statement on Friday describing McGovern as “Ireland’s most wanted.”

READ MORE: Daniel Kinahan's right hand man Sean McGovern arrested in Dubai during dramatic late-night raid

READ MORE: Interpol issue statement on arrest of 'Ireland’s most wanted' man Sean McGovern

Interpol said McGovern, who they called “an alleged high-ranking member of the Kinahan Organised Crime Group,” was taken into custody by Dubai Police on Thursday 10 October.

The arrest they said followed the publication of an Interpol Red Notice “to support the ongoing collaboration between Irish and UAE authorities.” Speaking about the arrest Secretary General Jürgen Stock said: “One of Ireland’s most wanted individuals has been arrested thanks to the combined efforts of the Irish authorities and the United Arab Emirates.

“Cases like this underline the value of international police cooperation via INTERPOL’s global network, and again highlights that no fugitive can consider themselves safe from justice."

McGovern, who is considered mob boss Daniel Kinahan’s right hand man, has been wanted for over two years on the foot of a European Arrest Warrant issued in April 2022.

McGovern is believed to have been central to ordering and executing the shocking gangland murder of innocent Dad-of-two Noel Kirwan - who was gunned down outside his Dublin home three days before Christmas 2016. He is also believed to have been one of the central drivers of the cartel’s efforts in the ruthless Kinahan Hutch feud - that saw a total of 18 men killed.

It is believed Mr Kirwan was only killed because he was seen in the company of top target Gerry ‘The Monk’ Hutch at his brother’s funeral earlier that year.

McGovern is suspected to have been Kinahan’s man on the ground who ordered lower tier who issued his orders to lower tier cartel thugs in the midst of the bitter feud.

Speaking out after the arrest was made public, Garda Commissioner Drew Harris described it as an “important intervention” - and went on to say that officers are still targeting the very top leaders of the cartel. He also encouraged members of the Kinahan cartel to “look about them” and cited the $15M reward for information and offer of witness protection by the US government.

“We’ve received news from our colleagues in UAE and Dubai about an important intervention and arrest that they’ve made and we welcome that very much. We see that as a significant development in our ongoing international effort to target transnational crime,” he said at an event in Cork on Wednesday.

“That’s to be very much welcomed as well and over the coming days more detail will be released as to identity and then the next steps.”

The Commissioner said the effort to arrest the likes of McGovern has been part of a “very long process” started by the late Assistant Commissioner John O’Driscoll, who died earlier this month.

“I might say it was started off by the late John O’Driscoll with great skill and capacity and energy and we’re following through on the foundations he laid in respect of international cooperation.”

Commissioner Harris went on to say that the Kinahan cartel remains a top target for the force. “We would always say we’re resolute and relentless in the pursuit of those individuals. They’re Irish nationals, the Kinahan organised crime gang have created misery throughout the world, they’ve been involved in very serious criminality and they’re a murderous gang of drug dealers. Therefore then they are one of our main objectives in terms of law enforcement and their pursuit.”

And in a highly unusual move Mr Harris made remarks directly at members of the Kinahan cartel. “Another point I’d make is in April 2022 US authorities announced their sanctions but also then an award, and I would speak then to unusually perhaps other members of the Kinahan organised crime gang, they should look about them, they should see what is happening here and they should remember there is $15M with US federal law enforcement and the US federal witness protection scheme open and they should consider that,” he said.

“They should consider their own future given the as you say progress and ingress we are making to the Kinahan organised crime gang collectively not just us but also other partners be it National Crime Agency, Europol and our US federal law enforcement counterparts.”

Commissioner Harris said “real progress” had been made since 2022 and said what might be called the cartel’s “legitimate part of the business has been broken down. But they remain a priority target and a lot of our effort and energy is obviously about bringing the overall leadership of the Kinahan organised crime gang to justice,” he said.

Gardai first announced the European Arrest Warrant against McGovern at a major press conference that also saw the United States Department of Treasury issue sanctions against the leadership of the Kinahan cartel in April 2022.

McGovern fled to Dubai in 2017 - where he believed he would be safe from extradition - and in that time became second in command to mob boss Daniel Kinahan.

In announcing the sanctions against the Kinahan organisation, the US government openly named McGovern - who was one of seven top cartel targets they sanctioned, as Daniel Kinahan’s “advisor and closest confidant.”

The US Department of Treasury was designated “for materially assisting, sponsoring, or providing financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services to or in support of, Daniel Kinahan.

“McGovern is Daniel Kinahan’s advisor and closest confidant, and evidence indicates that all dealings with Daniel Kinahan go through Sean McGovern,” they further stated. “Sean McGovern also has managed communications on behalf of Daniel Kinahan,
and he sells multi-kilogram quantities of cocaine.”

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