Drugs kingpin who ran UK arm of Kinahan Cartel must pay back £1m of his criminal fortune after making £12m from international drugs racket
Thomas 'Bomber' Kavanagh, 57, was jailed for 21 years at Ipswich Crown Court in March 2022 after he pleaded guilty to conspiring to import class A and B drugs and money laundering offences in July 2020.
The same court today concluded that the Irish national made an eye-watering £12,235,047 from the major drug importation conspiracy.
It included a half share in his £1million pile in Tamworth, which was fitted with bullet proof windows, equity in a property in Majorca, cash in banks and made from rents, designer watches and clothing, a family holiday to Cancun and about £40,000 seized by police during the investigation.
The Kinahan drugs operation is said to be run by Irish man Christy 'Dapper Don' Kinahan, 68, and his two sons Daniel, 48, and Christopher Jr, 44, who are based in Dubai.
In April 2022 the US Department of State placed $5million rewards for information that leads to their arrest and prosecution, branding them the heads of a major international drugs cartel.
Kavanagh's henchmen Gary 'Flash' Vickery, 42, and Daniel Canning were jailed for 20 years (reduced to 18 years on appeal) and 19 years and six months, respectively.
Canning's sentence included five years for possession of a firearm to be served concurrently.
Judge Martyn Levett, who sentenced the three and heard the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) case, accepted that financial investigations by the police and CPS had found that the recoverable amount identified from Kavanagh's existing assets is £1,123,096, which he was ordered to pay within three months or face further time in prison.
Today he made POCA orders against Kavanagh and Vickery giving them each the same time to pay the money or face extra prison time.
Separately, Vickery was found to have benefited to a total amount of £10,966,619, but only £109,312 was found to be available. He was also given three months to pay or face an extended sentence.
The court heard Vickery's assets were assessed from money in bank accounts, a half share in a property in Lanzarote, where he was extradited from, vehicles, money spent on a wedding, holiday deposits, watches and a boat.
Kavanagh's home was jointly purchased with his wife, Joanne, sister of Kinahan associate Liam Byrne.
The couple purchased the luxury pad for £565,000 after Kavanagh's Dublin home was earlier seized by the Irish Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) in Ireland.
There is no suggestion Mrs Kavanagh had any involvement in or knowledge of her husband's criminal activities.
Other assets that were seized during a January 2019 raid on the address include designer goods estimated at £500,000, including around 100 pairs of designer shoes, 120 handbags, 36 pairs of Armani jeans, Hugo Boss suits, Canada Goose and Moncler jackets as well as flashy watches and jewellery.
The £40,000 cash was also found stuffed in a sofa and in Moschino, Gucci and Chanel handbags.
Before being extradited to the UK from Lanzarote in November 2021, Vickery had a limited-edition Sunseeker Superhawk power boat, which had featured in the James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace.
Vickery and his wife Nicola O'Connor, who had no involvement in or knowledge of her husband's criminal activities, were living in a stunning gated villa in Macher on the island.
On January 12, 2019, Kavanagh was arrested at Birmingham Airport as he returned from a holiday in Mexico.
He was jailed at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court in September 2019 for three years for possessing a 10,000-volt stun gun disguised as a torch, which was found with other weapons during the raid on the house.
In August 2023, Kavanagh, and Liam Byrne, 44, and Shaun Kent, 39, from Liverpool, were charged with firearms offences in connection with an informant plot which was hatched while the former was in jail over the stun gun conviction.
Kavanagh later admitted at the Old Bailey that he had plotted to fool the NCA by saying in May 2021 that he had intelligence about where a stash of weapons from Holland was hidden buried in a field in Newry, Northern Ireland, in the hope of getting a lighter sentence in the drugs conspiracy case.
The firearms: seven machine guns, three automatic handguns, and an assault rifle and ammunition, were recovered by police.
The men had discussed the plot on the encrypted mobile phone system EncroChat, which was infiltrated by French police in April 2020, meaning the NCA had access to the messages.
In October 2024 Kavanagh was sentenced to six years in prison to be served consecutively to his 21-year sentence. Byrne was sentenced to five years while Kent received six years.
Investigations found Canning only has 16 euros and 19 cents left in an Ulster Bank account in Ireland.
The CPS argued that he should be liable for the full amount of the drugs assessed at about £10.4million, but his defence barrister Richard Craven Furlong argued he had a lesser role than Kavanagh and Vickery and had no shareholding in any of the drugs.
Canning's defence said he should only be held liable for various transactions into his various bank accounts that totalled around £145,000, about £80,000 of which he used to pay the rent on a unit where some of the drugs were taken.
Mr Furlong said he was not disputing that he played a leading role in the conspiracy, but that he had no ownership of the drugs or any shareholding in the 'Kavanagh Cooperative'.
Judge Levett said there was a 'huge discrepancy' between the amounts.
The CPS argued due to the scale of the conspiracy involving 'multiple importations' he should be found liable for the full amount.
Canning's POCA case was adjourned for further argument about Canning's assets.
The case continues.
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