The head of the Kinahan Organised Crime Group's UK drug trafficking operation presided over the importation of over €36 million worth of cocaine and cannabis, a court in England has heard.
The drugs were in 23 large shipments over a 12-month period, it was told.
Thomas Kavanagh, 54, is originally from Dublin but now lives in Tamworth.
He pleaded guilty to drugs trafficking and moneylaundering along with 43-year-old Daniel Canning - who is also from Dublin - and his brother-in-law Gary Vickery, 39.
Canning also pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm and ammunition.
The gang hid the drugs in industrial machinery which was used to smuggle the drugs in and the cash back out, the court heard.
Details of the Kinahan Organised Crime Group's highly organised and sophisticated UK drugs smuggling operation were outlined in Ipswich Crown Court.
The head of the gang's UK operation Thomas 'Bomber' Kavanagh and two other men - Canning from Walkinstown in Dublin and Vickery from Solihull in the West Midlands - pleaded guilty to drugs trafficking and moneylaundering after one of their shipments from Europe to the UK was intercepted in Dover.
Customs officers found €1.5 million worth of cocaine and €2.5 million worth of cannabis hidden inside the mechanism of a tarmac remover machine.
Officers from the UK National Crime Agency then searched the offices of the false companies the gang had established and their homes in the West Midlands.
They found a gun and ammunition, as well as over €250,000 in cash, tracker devices, mobile and encrypted phones and boric acid used for cutting cocaine to reduce its 75% purity and increase bulk and value.
Canning admitted possession of the gun and ammunition.
The gang communicated using code words on encrypted phones - Kavanagh was at the top and referred to as the Gaffer, Plasma or New2, Vickery was Jelly and Canning was Smiley.
Packages of cannabis were called Jackets, blocks of cocaine were phones, cash was paper, Spain was the Hot, The Netherlands was the flat and the transport machines used to conceal and move the money and drugs were "sisters or sist".
Between October 2016 and October 2017, when people were still being shot dead in Dublin because of the Hutch-Kinahan feud, the National Crime Agency identified 23 large drugs shipments which the Kinahan gang smuggled into the UK worth €36 million.
Unbeknownst to them, the gang hid behind fake companies but used legitimate transport companies.
They hid the drugs in industrial machinery including a tarmac remover which was used to smuggle the drugs in and the cash back out.
Kavanagh lived in luxury in a gated mansion in Tamworth with reinforced doors and bullet proof windows, Canning and Vickery also lived nearby. They held meetings in the Hyatt in Birmingham and went on celebratory trips to places like New York.
The court heard Kavanagh was "at the top". He gave instructions to Vickery, who in turn directed Canning.
He was also the contact for the man, currently in custody in Germany, who managed the drugs operation for the Kinahan Organised Crime Group in Europe.
Canning has no previous convictions, the court heard. He worked as a cleaner, does not have an extravagant lifestyle and previously owned a house in Ireland, which was repossessed by the mortgage lender in 2018.
His defence counsel said it was not his intention to use the gun and ammunition, another person's DNA was found on it, life has been difficult for him and his family have not been able to visit him because of Covid.
The three men will be sentenced in Ipswich next week.
