Christy Kinahan: A timeline of the international drug trafficker and gang leader’s life

Born: March 23rd, 1957, according to a current British passport.

1986: Caught with heroin valued at £117,000, a very large quantity at the time, in Clontarf, Dublin, in what gardaí believe was his first foray into the drugs trade having specialised in fraud. Jailed for six years.

1993: Charged with possession of stolen cheques, bailed and fled to the UK.

1997: Arrested at family funeral in Dublin on cheque charges, denied bail and eventually jailed for four years.

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2000: Around this time Kinahan leaves Ireland for Spain after release from prison while already running a fledgling drugs gang in Dublin.

Spain: For about 15 years, in Spain, Kinahan grew what has since become a major drugs cartel; sourcing vast quantities of drugs, especially cocaine, and serving the Irish, UK and other markets.

2006: Operation Shovel – an international investigation established into the Kinahan cartel – ramps up in 2008 when cartel shoots dead Dubliner Paddy Doyle (27) near Marbella. Operation Shovel leads to significant co-operation between Irish, Spanish and British law enforcement but spreads across Europe and to the US, Brazil, United Arab Emirates, China, Panama and Dominican Republic.

2008: Arrested in Belgium on money laundering charges with a six-year jail term imposed but granted bail to appeal. Eventually extradited in 2011 from his base in southern Spain to serve the sentence, with sons Daniel and Christopher Jnr by now established figures at the head of the cartel with their father.

2010: Christy Kinahan is among a number of cartel members, associates and other suspects arrested in raids, mainly in Spain, though he is released without charge as the inquiry continues.

2012: Operation Shovel effectively concludes without any significant targets being imprisoned, despite Kinahan being among those arrested for questioning during the inquiry.

2015: Dubliner Gary Hutch shot dead in southern Spain in revenge for having tried to murder Daniel Kinahan, escalating a simmering feud between the Kinahan cartel and the mainly Dublin-based Hutch crime group, by which time Christy Kinahan is already setting up a new life for himself in Dubai.

2016: An effort is made to shoot dead Daniel Kinahan during a visit to Dublin for a boxing promotion, prompting him to join his father in Dubai and effectively complete the relocation of the cartel leadership from southern Spain to Dubai.

2017-2018: Christy Kinahan secretly begins his efforts to establish a new life in Zimbabwe, presenting himself as a British businessman, Christopher Vincent, working as a manager, owner and consultant in the aviation sector.

2022: In April the US department of the treasury’s office of foreign assets control (OFAC) travels to Dublin to unveil a package of financial and travel sanctions against the men they say are at the apex of the Kinahan cartel. Rewards of $5 million are offered for information leading to the arrest and jailing of the veteran crime boss or his sons Daniel and Christopher Jnr.