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.
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.
“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.
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.
“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.”
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.
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.
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.”
A WOMAN who reportedly raked in huge sums of money thanks to her career on OnlyFans has said her controversial career has ruined her dating life.
Maddi Miller, who is from Australia, boasts a whopping 25,000 Instagram followers, gained a posh car, a huge home thanks to the money from her OnlyFans gig – but it also ended her relationship.
She explained that she joined the adult entertainment industry at just 18 years old in a bid to “secure her future,” but things went downhill when she began earning more than her boyfriend.
According to the model, her boyfriend was making more money than her when they started seeing each other, meaning he could treat her to cute date nights, but all that changed when she became the breadwinner.
Maddi soon started raking in $70,000 (£111,568) a month, leading her partner to see her earning as a “competition.”
The adult content creator has since faced similar problems when it comes to dating, as she admitted to struggling to find a fella who doesn’t feel insecure about her earnings.
She told news.com.au: “I feel like it hurts their egos. They still have this expectation that, as the man, they should hold the financial power in a relationship.
“I obviously threaten their sense of masculinity in that way.”
Maddi’s small town in Australia makes matters even worse, since she can’t find a man near her.
The irony of being lusted over online but being painfully single in real life hasn’t been lost on Maddi though.
She even admitted she has “less going on than ever before.”
“But I’d rather be celibate than with a man that doesn’t support my career,” she said.
Instead of forcing a relationship with someone, Maddi said she is hoping to meet a man who is just as successful in his own career, and doesn’t feel insecure about her job.
In fact, people often make assumptions about Maddi’s values, she explained, but at heart she said she’s really a romantic and her controversial job is just a way to make cash.
Speaking about her career in the adult industry, Maddi said: “This career gave me the chance to take my finances to another level and secure my future as well.”
Maddi isn’t the only adult content creator who has spoken about the negative sides of the industry though.
Celebrity Big Brother and Ex On The Beach star Jemma Lucy recently told The Sun about her experience on OnlyFans after she joined the platform for financial survival after her TV career plateaued.
“I came off reality TV and had this big platform, but the industry doesn’t offer much support when you’re not actively working,” she explains.
OnlyFans became a quick fix—and it was certainly lucrative.
She said: “I’ve made six figures. At first, it was really PG, but as the money becomes addictive, you push your boundaries a little more.
“You end up doing things that your body and mind are saying no to.”
Her regret, however, doesn’t stem solely from the explicit content or the judgment it invited.
It’s the knowledge that one day, her daughter, who attends a £33,000-a-year private school, might see it.
She added: “I’ll never be able to erase the past, but at least I can show her it’s no longer who I am.”
OnlyFans is a subscription content service based in London.
As of 2023, it is thought to have more than 220million registered users and over three million content creators.
Sex workers charge monthly fees for access to pictures, videos and more.
While popular for porn, the site isn’t exclusively designed with that in mind – anyone who wants to build up a fan base and charge them for it can set one up.
Celebs like Katie Price and Kerry Katona are popular personalities on the platform.
“Whether you’re uploading tutorials, tips, behind-the-scenes footage or just endless selfies, a lot of your followers would be willing to pay for them,” the company states.
For every subscription that’s sold to a viewer, performers get 80 per cent of the cash while OnlyFans gets the rest.
It isn’t limited to adult content, as it has become popular with physical fitness experts and musicians.
The journey of creating Helldivers 2 has been full of ups and downs for Swedish developer Arrowhead Game Studios. The first Helldivers 2 game was a shoot ’em-up action game, however, the studio completely ditched that concept for the sequel. The process of creating the first game was quite complicated for Arrowhead, so it tried […]
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Hajime Isayama gets listed among the best mangaka in the industry for everything that he has achieved with Attack on Titan. Apart from the massive success and popularity, he also faced some challenges during the serialization of his series. The mangaka was criticized for his art and there was the ending debacle too, which made […]
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DONALD Trump’s secret Houthi attack plans have been leaked after a journalist was mistakenly added to a private government group chat.
Jeffrey Goldberg, editor in chief of the Atlantic magazine, revealed he was included in a messaging chain alongside Trump’s vice president JD Vance in the incredible security blunder.
Several other senior members of the Trump administration were also included such as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and national security adviser Mike Waltz.
The messages are said to have discussed the strikes against the Houthi terror group in Yemen.
Jeffrey Goldberg revealed the mishap as he published an article headlined: “The Trump Administration Accidentally Texted Me Its War Plans”.
In the story, Goldberg claimed he connected with Waltz on Signal on March 11 and was invited to join a chain called the “Houthi PC small group” two days later.
