Latest news with #NiallSmith
Sunday World
6 days ago
- Business
- Sunday World
House tied to Kinahan-linked cartel growhouse operation sells for €51k
The remote Co Leitrim house was bought by Clondalkin taxi driver Niall Smith, who gardaí said operated grow houses all over the country for ten years. A property linked to a cannabis growing operation run by the Byrne Gang has been sold off at auction after being seized by the Criminal Assets Bureau. The remote Co Leitrim house, in a run-down state, was one of two bought in the county to be converted into a cannabis farm, according to Cab evidence. Four bidders battled it out for the bargain property which had a reserve price of €25,000 but sold for €51,000 last week. Clondalkin taxi driver Niall Smith, who gardaí said operated grow houses all over the country for ten years, had bought the house and sheds. Niall Smith They estimated he had spent €86,000 on renovating the property at Toomans earmarked by the Kinahan Cartel linked gang to grow cannabis. 'The remoteness of this location and the materials found when the property was searched support this conclusion,' it was stated in the High Court. The gang had planned to use the properties after gardaí discovered their grow-house in Wexford. Another house at Drumany was bought in 2011 for €15,000 by Smith but Cab estimated that €422,355 was spent on building a house on the site. That house, which had been refurbished to a high-standard, sold for €206,000 at auction in April. Two other houses seized by Cab were also auctioned off last week, one of which belonged to convicted armed robber Stefan Saunders. His five-bedroom house in Hazelbury Park in Clonee, was sold for €573,000, topping previous prices for houses in the estate, according to the Price Property Register. The home in Leitrim Saunders was one of the country's most prolific and dangerous armed robbers and was jailed for seven and a half years for an attempted ATM robbery in 2016. It was previously heard in the High Court that the couple bought the house in a spending spree after the €2.5m Brinks Allied security van robbery in Artane, Dublin, in 2005. Cab took possession of the property in Clonee in January after the couple exhausted all their legal appeals against the High Court ruling. Stefan Saunders claimed he worked as a plasterer while Tammy claimed she earned her income from an interior decorating business they owned. Cab also sold a house in Portlaoise, Co Laois last week that it had seized from Mary Cash who they alleged had acted as a getaway driver for a burglary gang. News in 90 June 4th The semi-detached four-bedroom bungalow with a large back garden at Harpur's Lane in Portlaoise sold for €91,000. Bought for €100,000 without a mortgage it was declared proceeds of crime in 2023 despite Ms Cash's claim she had made money in Australia working as an escort and a cleaner. During the case it was heard that new floors and a front door were installed along with a brand-new bathroom despite the couple's modest means. Cash is the wife of Andrew Cash, a member of a notorious burglary gang which carried out robberies all over the country along with her brother Henry Kiely, it was heard in the High Court. It emerged during the case there was a secret compartment in a bedroom where officers found £6,000 hidden in two socks during searches. In one search in 2020, images of Mary Cash leading 'a lavish lifestyle' were found on her mobile phone, including one taken while shopping at the up-market London store Harrods. A gold Cartier Santos Galbee watch worth €2,000, a Chanel N'Quartz watch worth €900 and two diamond bracelets worth €4,200 were also seized.
Sunday World
25-04-2025
- Sunday World
Home bought for use as Kinahan cartel growhouse sells for half the price spent on it
The Kinahan-linked Byrne Gang had planned to use the house as Drumany in Co Leitrim after their operations in Wexford had attracted too much garda attention. A HOUSE bought to be used by a cannabis growhouse operation has been sold for less than half the price spent on it before it was seized by the Criminal Assets Bureau. The Kinahan-linked Byrne Gang had planned to use the house as Drumany in Co Leitrim after their operations in Wexford had attracted too much garda attention. Taxi driver Niall Smith believed by gardaí to have run the cannabis-growing set-up, bought two remote properties in the county. Niall Smith The property at Drumany was bought in 2011 for €15,000 but Cab estimated that €422,355 was spent on building a house on the site. It sold for €206,000 at auction today in which four bidders competed to buy the property and house which had been refurbished to a high standard. The reserve price of €125,000 was met early in the auction process. A second house at Toomans, Co Leitrim had also been bought to be converted into a grow house on which Smith spent €86,000, according to Cab evidence. The home in Leitrim That is now due to go for auction next month with a reserve price of €25,000. Cab said Smith was involved in the 'large-scale cultivation of cannabis' on the direction 'of a faction the current Kinahan Organised Crime Group namely FreDdy Thompson and Liam' and was being monitored by lower level members. Garda intelligence indicated more grow houses were operating or being set up in Offaly, Westmeath, Longford, Roscommon and Leitrim, according to Cab. Inside the house The two properties were at the centre of Cab's case against Smith to have them declared the proceeds of crime. Smith, who initially opposed the Cab case, had said he is a taxi driver who also does boat repairs and denied any involvement in crime and that his money came from undeclared earnings. He said he was living off income from renting out a room in his Clondalkin home and was able to get by on €200 a week. The Sunday World previously revealed how Smith had been exposed as the Byrne gang's cannabis grower in Ireland after being forced to hand over property to Cab. Originally from Crumlin, south Dublin, is said by Cab to have operated grow-houses throughout the country for more than ten years. Smith was suspected of using the cover of his taxi business to transport the cannabis from remote rural areas back up to the Crumlin area for sale. A sophisticated grow house at Courtown, Co Wexford, was discovered in 2013 where Smith was present at the time. The same year, 140 plants were found at an industrial unit in Swords along with Smith's fingerprint, but no charges were brought. One officer who investigated the Crumlin native described him in an affidavit as 'very shrewd in his criminal enterprise'. He used as few people as possible in the operation 'with a view to reducing his exposure to law enforcement and remaining undetected', 'These grow-houses appear to be large in scale and professionally and efficiently run.'
