THE boss of Ireland’s most dangerous crime gang has been arrested — as part of a global probe into the ‘Ghost’ messaging platform.
The leader of The Family gang — who replaced the Kinahan cartel as Ireland’s main drug trafficking outfit — was held after an operation by the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau.
The gang leader and other members have been arrested by gardai[/caption]
His two siblings – who have “equal status” in the transnational group – were lifted in the dawn raids.
And two other members of the gang – who help run the outfits drugs distribution, logistics and money laundering networks – were also arrested.
All five are considered to have key roles in the day-to-day running of the huge criminal empire.
The Irish Sun can reveal the arrests were made in Dublin, Kilkenny and Wexford.
Their arrests come after they were identified last September under ‘Operation Kraken’ as suspected users of the illegal messaging network.
The network was used by criminal organisations around the world to arrange drug shipments, firearms and money laundering.
Four major crime gangs in Ireland – including The Family – were the second biggest users of the network before it was smashed in the global operation last year.
The three siblings will now be questioned on suspicion of directing the activities of an organised crime gang.
Their two associates will be questioned on suspicion of enhancing the capabilities of organised crime gangs.
They were arrested after investigators analysed a series of messages linked to specific drugs transactions obtained under ‘Operation Kraken’ last September.
If charged, they would be the first people in Ireland to face prosecution from evidence gained from the illegal messaging platform.
One source told us: “The overall leader of the gang has been involved in serious and organised crime for many years.
“They have been arrested in the latest phase of the investigation into the Ghost messaging platform.
“Evidence gathered from the platform has led to these arrests.
“This is a significant development in the overall investigation into this criminal network.
‘TOP OF THE PYRAMID’
“They are at the top of the pyramid in this dangerous gang.”
One of the key logistical members arrested also has responsibility for recruiting people who are “under the radar” to the gang.
These include people like Paul Bourke, 56, from Kilkenny, who was moving heroin and Glock pistols for the mob before he was caught.
Another is Hungarian pilot Zoltan Nemeth, 63, who flew €8.4m worth of heroin into Ireland in 2023.
TOP TIER TARGETS
The Family are “top tier” targets for Gardai due to their involvement in the global drugs trade and because of their willingness to use violence.
In the most recent case, their associates are linked to the murder of Cormac Berkeley in 2022.
The source added: “One of their associates was central to their overall operations.
“He would have responsibility for recruiting individuals like Paul Bourke.
USED BY THE GANG
“They recruited people like Bourke because they were all under the radar.
“Bourke and people like him were simply used to move drugs and guns.
“It didn’t matter to the gang’s leadership that someone like Bourke could be caught and sent to prison.”
Gardai confirmed investigations were ongoing.
“They are at the top of the pyramid in this dangerous gang.”
Irish Sun source
A spokesperson said: “Five males were arrested by the GNDOCB as part of an ongoing investigation into the activities of an international organised crime group based in west Dublin.
“The males (aged 30s, 40s and 60s) were arrested in the Dublin and Eastern Garda Regions for alleged offences contrary to the Criminal Justice Act 2006.
“The operation led by the GNDOCB was supported by the Emergency Response Unit, the Regional Armed Support Unit, the Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation and the Dublin Crime Response Team.”
NUMBER OF HUGE BLOWS
Since the GNDOCB went on the offensive against The Family, they have seized over €50m worth of drugs, €7m in cash, charged “top tier” targets and seized assets such as luxury cars.
Gardai believe they were laundering €100m in drug cash every year.
Following the global operation against the ‘Ghost’ platform last September, Gardai recovered €15.2m worth of cocaine, €320,000 worth of cannabis, €100,000 of heroin and €300,000 in cash.
Gardai have been working through Ghost network devices since then when they seized 42 of them as they dozens of properties.
Branded as unhackable to gangsters, it was used by hundreds of criminals across the world.
SOFTWARE HACKED
But unbeknownst to its users, authorities had hacked into the network and the messages exchanged by transnational drug gangs.
Under ‘Operation Kraken’, the FBI, the Australian Federal Police, the Canadian Mounted Police, the French National Gendarmerie while authorities in Italy, Iceland, Holland and Sweden were also involved.
It led to the GNDOCB focus on four criminal groupings, The Family, along with three other smaller gangs they worked with.
The Ghost app was developed in 2017 in Australia and law enforcement said Ghost was specifically used for large-scale drug trafficking, money laundering, instances of extreme violence and other forms of serious and organised crime.
It had three encryption standards and offered the option to send a message followed by a specific code that results in self-destruction of all messages on the target phone.
CODED LANGUAGE
While a number of suspects had been identified at the time, the coded language used by those on these networks also have to be broken down and analysed by experts.
Speaking at a press conference following the Ghost hack, Detective Chief Supt Seamus Boland said: “In general, without even discussing how they communicated on these networks, it’s our experience that organised crime at the highest level always use a coded language.
And that’s something that we’ve seen going back to 2015, 2016.
“Even if they’re sitting in a room with no windows and having a conversation among themselves, they’re at a very high level, they’re tuned to a certain way to use coded languages.
“So that’s something that’s always going to be a challenge for law enforcement, but that’s something that we’re quite confident that their coded languages they use were capable of understanding what’s taking place.
“And often you will see evidence being given in some prosecutions and courts in relation to what specific codes generally are being referred to in a prosecution.”
Hungarian pilot Zoltan Nemet flew €8.4m worth of heroin into Ireland in 2023[/caption]
