Special Forces raid on ‘narco tanker’ that could expose the Irish gangsters behind the largest drug smuggling cartel in the world

An undercover operation by American agents that successfully infiltrated a global drugs trafficking ring run by the Kinahan cartel has been revealed for the first time – days after eight gangsters who were caught in a Special Forces raid on a ‘narco-tanker’ in the Irish Sea were jailed. 

In a dramatic operation akin to something from a movie, operatives from the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) penetrated the gang’s vast international network. 

The high-stakes mission, revealed for the first time in newly unsealed federal court records, exposed how hoods from the bloodthirsty group were expanding their empire globally in a bid to rival the likes of Mexico’s fearsome Sinaloa Cartel. 

Gangsters from the Irish narcotic empire – which has links to mainland Britain – are accused of trafficking methamphetamine and fentanyl precursor chemicals worldwide.

The discovery by the DEA will undoubtedly worry drugs barons within the group, with the authority’s investigation now exposing the cartel’s move towards smuggling synthetic drugs – a shift from its traditional cocaine trafficking operation. 

News of the dramatic operation by American agents comes after eight men from the Kinahan cartel were jailed earlier this month for their part in trying to smuggle 2.2 tonnes of cocaine, worth £132million, into the country. 

The vast haul was found after special forces soldiers from the Irish Army Range Wing  fast-roped from a helicopter onto the Panamanian cargo ship, MV Matthew, in September 2023. 

The bust was hailed the biggest-ever cocaine seizure in Irish waters and exposed how the Kinahans were linked to the Iran-backed terror group, Hezbollah.

Details of the American mission combined with the Irish special forces raid, are raising fresh questions about just how powerful the Kinahan cartel is in the global drugs trade – and how far their reach now extends across the globe. 

Founded in the late 1990s in Dublin, the narcotics ring is led by ‘Dapper Don’ Christy Kinahan, a former street dealer-turned-international cocaine trafficker. 

The cartel is notorious for its brutal tactics, having been accused of a number of gangland hits against rivals. 

Now based in Dubai, Kinahan and his sons Daniel and Christopher Jr are the subjects of international sanctions, with a $5million bounty from the US authorities hanging over their heads. 

Dramatic footage of a daring Irish army operation (above) which led to £132million of cocaine being seized from a container ship was released last week

Christy Kinahan Sr, known as ‘Dapper Don’ (left), began the Kinahan Cartel as a drug-dealing ring in Dublin in the 1990s and has expanded it into a global empire. Son Daniel (right) is accused of running day-to-day operations of the gang. They are based in Dubai

Christy Kinahan Jr is also being hunted by police and located in Dubai

Now, new details have emerged revealing how DEA agents had infiltrated the Kinahans more than a year before the mega drugs bust in September 2023. 

The operation began in the Turkish city of Ankara, in June 2022, when the authority’s office there recruited a confidential informant, codenamed ‘Queen’, to penetrate the gang’s trafficking operation, reports The Times. 

The insider gained the trust of Opinder Singh Sian, a Canadian national accused of holding a top position in the network, who was arrested in Nevada last month.

It’s alleged Sian told undercover agents he was linked to the Kinahan cartel, the Italian mafia and a major Turkish trafficker wanted since 2019. 

The Kinahans are known to have strong links to Turkey, with the gang having substantial investments in the country. Kinahan’s cartel also supplies drugs to Australia.

Under the guidance of DEA handlers, Queen introduced Sian to an undercover agent posing as a relative, who claimed to have the ability to shift vast quantities of drugs via the Port of Long Beach, one of America’s busiest container ports. 

According to US documents, the three met in March 2023 at a restaurant in Manhattan Beach, California, to set up a new trafficking deal smuggling methamphetamine to Australia, where prices can exceed $200,000 per kilo.

Over the summer of 2023, Sian worked with a team of undercover agents to set up a staged shipment of meth via a safehouse in Pomona, east of Los Angeles. 

Soldiers are seen on board the drugs cargo ship MV Matthew after seizing it. The vessel had been transporting £132million of cocaine for the Kinahan cartel

Eight men admitted their roles in trying to smuggle the cocaine (above) as part of a massive drug trafficking operation, and received varying sentences from 13 to 20 years behind bars

The Mv Matthew’s crew did not know suspicions about its activities had been relayed to An Garda Siochana and the drugs and organised crime bureau was monitoring the ship (pictured)

DEA agents then staged a fake handover, seizing the real drugs for analysis before replacing them with decoy packages. 

Meanwhile, when the ship arrived in Australia, police there used a GPS-tracked container to trace the trail to a suspected drugs den in Sydney. 

Court documents also show how Sian had used encrypted apps such as Threema to communicate with Queen and other suspected traffickers.

And further investigation uncovered plans by the Kinahans to allegedly smuggle fentanyl precursor chemicals from China into the United States via Canada, with Queen reportedly meeting two Canadian collaborators of Sian who were aiding the narcotics expansion. 

The extensive undercover operation provides fresh insight into how the Kinahans have linked up with other key figures in the criminal underworld to try and gain a foothold in the international drugs trade, shifting drugs through global ports. 

It’s unclear whether this undercover operation provided intelligence which ultimately led to the huge bust on the drugs container ship in September 2023.  

As previously reported, the gang’s plans were dealt a major blow when its £132million haul of cocaine was seized by the Irish authorities. 

An elite strike force from the Irish Defence Force roped in from helicopters in gale-force winds while the container ship’s crew desperately attempted to evade them. 

Dramatic footage of the raid showed how Irish troops were in ‘hot pursuit’ of the criminals, which included warning shots fired by the Naval Service before army rangers stormed the ship. 

The Panama-flagged MV Matthew entered Irish territorial waters on September 23, 2023, having set off from Curacao, an island off the coast of Venezuela.

But unbeknown to the crew, suspicions about its activities had been relayed to An Garda Siochana – Ireland’s national police organisation -which ordered teams from its drugs and organised crime bureau to monitor the ship.

The Panama-flagged MV Matthew entered Irish territorial waters on September 23, 2023, having set off from Curacao

Irish Army Ranger Wing boarded the MV Matthew vessel from helicopters during gale force winds, after Irish naval ship LE William Butler Yeats (pictured) fired warning shots at the ship 

Pictured is the route showing how the drugs container ship was chased down and seized 

As part of the mission, the FV Castlemore fishing trawler, which had been purchased by two men with funding from an organised crime group, was also tracked.

The two men on the FV Castlemore were communicating with criminal cells in Dubai and beyond about the MV Matthew ‘mothership’.

The trawler engaged in a number of failed attempts to receive clandestine transfers of the cocaine from the MV Matthew.

During what would be its final attempt, the Irish Coast Guard engaged with the vessel to warn it of dangerous conditions and inquire about its lack of movement.

The FV Castlemore later put out a distress call to the Coast Guard after running aground on a sandbank off the Wexford coast.

The crew were rescued by Coast Guard helicopter and taken to the naval vessel, the LE WB Yeats – essentially inadvertently handing themselves in for arrest.

When the mothership became aware of the distress call, a change of plan was ordered.

Voice messages from an individual in Dubai, identified as ‘Captain Noah’ and who gardai believe remains in the Middle East, show the crew on the MV Matthew were instructed to load all cocaine into a lifeboat for a rendezvous with a different vessel – which would not occur due to the interception by Irish authorities.

The MV Matthew repeatedly ignored instructions from Revenue and the Naval Service’s LE WB Yeats.

Text messages and voice notes show panicked communications within the criminal network, including the incorrect belief that the ship would not be boarded if it headed further into international waters.

While trying to evade the naval service, the LE WB Yeats entered a ‘hot pursuit’ and – acting as a warship – fired warning shots in the vicinity of the MV Matthew.

The captain of the MV Matthew communicated that it was a commercial vessel and was not in jurisdiction covered by the Irish navy: ‘Irish warship, please do not fire at us.’

He added: ‘Can you advise if you are in hot pursuit of us?’

The MV Matthew repeatedly ignored instructions from Revenue and the Naval Service’s LE WB Yeats (interior pictured)

Six of the eight men who have now been sentenced were on board the MV Matthew (above) at the time, while the other two were on the trawler

PIctured are Ir

Assistant Commissioner for Organised and Serious Crime Angela Willis (above) said the investigation showed the Irish State’s commitment to tackle organised crime

Criminals onboard started deleting messages and attempted to burn the cocaine onboard as Captain Noah told them they would not be boarded.

He sent a voice message: ‘My stress level is near to heart attack, try to be calm.’

However, the Army Ranger Wing would shortly board the vessel by descending on ropes from a helicopter while the ship was moving erratically – ending the chase, leading to the successful arrests and seizure of the cocaine.

Six of the eight men who have now been sentenced were on board the MV Matthew at the time, while the other two were on the trawler.

The eight men who have now been sentenced are:

• Cumali Ozgen, 49, from the Netherlands, jailed for 20 years 
• Harold Estoesta, 31, from the Philippines, jailed for 18 years
• Soheil Jelveh, 51, from Iran, jailed for 17-and-a-half years 
• Vitaliy Vlasoi, 33, from Ukraine, jailed for 16-and-a-half years 
• Saeid Hassani, 40, from Iran, jailed for 15 years 
• Mykhailo Gavryk, 32, from Ukraine, jailed for 14 years 
• Vitaliy Lapa, 62, from Ukraine, jailed for 14-and-a-half years
• Jamie Harbon, 31, from the UK, jailed for 13-and-a-half years 

After they were sentenced, Assistant Commissioner for Organised and Serious Crime Angela Willis said the investigation showed the Irish State’s commitment to tackle organised crime.

‘Transnational organised crime groups know no borders, they prey on people’s vulnerability for their own financial gain.

‘People are dispensable and expendable when they are no longer of use to the criminal organisation

‘Life is cheap and protecting their core criminal interest – which is money – is their key priority.’