The U.S. Department of State (DOS) is offering rewards of up to $5 million for information that leads to the arrests and/or convictions of three members of an Irish organized-crime family, the DOS announced recently.
Irish native Christopher Vincent Kinahan and his sons, Christopher Kinahan Jr. and Daniel Joseph Kinahan, are wanted for their involvement in transnational organized crime, the DOS reported April 12. The report states the Kinahan crime syndicate started distributing cocaine and heroin from South America in Ireland then extended to the United Kingdom (U.K.) and the European continent, among other crimes.
"In addition to narcotics trafficking, the Kinahans have engaged in money laundering, firearms trafficking, and murder," DOS spokesperson Ned Price states in the report.
The U.S. Department of the Treasury has also brought sanctions against the Kinahans pursuant to Executive Order 14059, "Imposing Sanctions on Foreign Persons Involved in the Global Illicit Drug Trade," according to the DOS report.
The reward monies are part of the DOS's Transnational Organized Crime Rewards Program (TOCRP), and are offered jointly with Ireland's An Garda Síochana (AGS) and the U.K.'s National Crime Agency (NCA), according to the report.
"Together with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)," the DOS states in the announcement, "these agencies will work to combat drug trafficking and transnational crime by the Kinahan Transnational Criminal Organization wherever it exists."
More than 75 transnational criminals and traffickers have been apprehended as a result of the TOCRP and the Narcotics Rewards Program (NRP) since the NRP began in 1986, according to the DOS. The rewards programs have paid out $135 million for actionable information, the DOS reports.
"These actions demonstrate the Department’s commitment to supporting law enforcement efforts to bring transnational criminals to justice," DOS's Price states in the report.
