The Garda Commissioner has welcomed the arrest of a senior figure in the Kinahan organised crime group in Dubai, and urged other members of the group to consider coming forward.
Drew Harris was speaking following the arrest of Sean McGovern in Dubai, who was named earlier this year in the Special Criminal Court as one of the leaders of the Kinahan organised crime group.
Mr Harris said that the arrest of a senior figure in the Kinahan gang by police in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates was "an important intervention".
However he refused to confirm the identity of the person arrested, saying that information would be released "over the coming days".
"We see that as a significant development in our ongoing international efforts to combat translational organised crime," Commissioner Harris said.
Speaking in Cork, the Garda Commissioner described the Kinahan organised crime gang as "a murderous gang of drug dealers" that has "created misery throughout the world" and the gardaí and international partners are "resolute and relentless in pursuit of those individuals", but Mr Harris said these comments were being made separately from his comments over the UAE arrest.
Unusually, Mr Harris also addressed "other members of the Kinahan crime gang" and urged them to consider coming forward.
"They should look about them, they should see what is happening here and they should remember that there is $15 million with US Federal Law Enforcement and the US Federal Witness Protection Scheme (is) open, and they should consider that.
"They should consider their own future given the progress and the ingress we are making to the Kinahan organised crime gang," the commissioner said.
Mr McGovern was arrested this morning on foot of an Interpol red notice, a request to law enforcement worldwide to locate and provisionally arrest a person pending extradition, surrender, or similar legal action.
He is wanted in Ireland in connection with the murder of Noel Kirwan, an innocent man who was shot dead as part of the Hutch-Kinahan feud in December 2016.
A European Arrest Warrant had been issued for him by the High Court.
Mr McGovern is one of the seven senior figures in the Kinahan organised crime group named and sanctioned by the US authorities.
He was shot and injured in the gun attack at Regency Hotel in Dublin in February 2016, in which his friend and fellow gang member David Byrne was shot dead.
The murder escalated the Hutch-Kinahan feud, which has so far cost 18 lives.
One of those victims was Mr Kirwan, who was shot dead three days before Christmas in 2016 outside his home in west Dublin.
He was targeted by the Kinahan gang because he appeared in a photograph alongside Gerard Hutch, the man known as the Monk, at the funeral of Gerard's brother Eddie, another victim of the feud.
Originally from Drimnagh in Dublin, Mr McGovern was part of the Byrne organised crime group, the Dublin faction of the Kinahan organised crime group.
He was targeted by the Criminal Assets Bureau and his assets including his house in Crumlin were seized.
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He, along with Liam Byrne and other gang members, left the country and he relocated alongside Christy senior, Daniel and Christopher Kinahan in Dubai.
The Minister for Justice said that any person involved in organised crime should know there is no hiding place and that they will face justice.
Helen McEntee said she is "intensively engaging with the Emirati Minister of Justice, His Excellency Abdullah Bin Sultan Bin Awad Al Nuaimi, about ongoing co-operation" in criminal justice matters.
She also said that while she cannot comment on the specific case, the Government has agreed to open negotiations with the UAE on bilateral treaties on extradition and mutual legal assistance.
Gardaí have also been working closely with law enforcement agencies in the UAE.
There have been reciprocal visits by police and gardaí to both countries as part of cooperation in criminal investigations and a Garda Liaison Officer is now based in Abu Dhabi.
Additional reporting Laura Fletcher
