€10m-a-year drug gang ‘The Family’ in crisis after high-profile arrests
The leader of ‘The Family’, along with two of his brothers, were arrested with two other gang lieutenants on Monday.
Ireland’s top drug traffickers – estimated to earn around €10 million in profits annually – is reeling after a succession of raids and arrests here and in Spain.
The besieged gang, known as ‘The Family’, is considered by gardaí to be the biggest single player in the highly lucrative cocaine trade and has been, for three decades, the dominant gang in the heroin business.
The leader of the outfit, along with two of his brothers, were arrested with two other gang lieutenants on Monday.
Then on Tuesday a sixth man was arrested in Ireland along with six other arrests in Spain, as police and customs surveillance officers there swooped on the gang’s warehouse.
The six arrested here are considered to comprise the bulk of the “leadership structure” of the network.
Apart from the three brothers, the other three men – one from Kildare, a second from Dublin and a third from Wexford - are described as “top tier” figures, running logistics, wholesale supply, management and money-laundering.
The man, aged 44, from Kildare, is suspected of controlling the gang’s encrypted communications system – a highly sensitive position.
The six arrested in Spain are described as significant suppliers, five of them local nationals, and the sixth a gang representative covering the British market.
As reported in the on Monday, gardaí are examining the prospect of recommending charges relating to organised crime – membership, contributing to and even directing a gang – to the DPP.
It is understood that this is a long-term goal and that significant work lies ahead in gathering together considerable evidence amassed – including messages in encrypted communications used by gang members and accessed by French and EU technical experts – and presenting it to the DPP.
Drug-trafficking and money-laundering offences are also being considered.
Last September, the Garda Drugs and and Organised Crime Bureau (DOCB) and Europol revealed that the encrypted communication system, called 'Ghost', used by global gangs, including 'The Family', had been accessed by French technical experts and analysed by the EU police agency.
This week’s arrest operation has been led by DOCB and Guardia Civil in Spain with the support of Europol and Italian Antimafia police. Spanish and Italian police and Europol telecoms experts have been in Ireland since the start of the week – while gardaí have been in Spain.
‘The Family’ criminal organisation, considered by gardai to be the biggest drug-trafficking network in the country, is estimated to earn around €10m profits a year, fuelled in recent years by the booming cocaine trade.
