For years, a notorious Irish crime family has held court in one of the most luxurious places on Earth.
They are among the legions of gangsters, drug smugglers and fugitives from across the world who have flocked to the city as famous for its criminal underworld as its iconic skyline.
Of course, this is Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
There are three key attractions for criminals: strict financial confidentiality laws; a hot climate and plenty of luxury shops; and officials happy to let questionable money flood the market – as long as they get their cut.
One gangland source told MailOnline the city’s charms include low crime rates making it safe for their families, a suspension of gang rivalries, and the fact that ‘everyone gets on’.
This was the backdrop to which the Kinahan Cartel – a multi-billion drugs and arms organised crime group founded in Dublin – set up their gangster lifestyle.
They were, and to a certain extent still are, among the true sheikhs of Dubai. It is they who hold court and whose social events rank with the crème de la crème.
One of the largest underworld society events this century – and that any criminal worth their salt was invited to – was the wedding of suspected mob boss Daniel ‘Chess’ Kinahan to Caoimhe Robinson in a lavish ceremony at Dubai’s £1,000-a-night Burj Al Arab hotel.
The guest list is actually thought to have helped investigators realise the membership of a ‘super cartel’ of top gangsters operating from Dubai and responsible for smuggling £30billion of cocaine into Europe.
Yet their gangsters’ paradise is under threat.
Many criminals previously thought they were effectively immune from other countries’ law enforcement in Dubai, but this is changing.
At least seven top gangsters have been arrested and extradited from Dubai in recent years.
As one former Scotland Yard detective told the Mail, ‘the game is now up for [organised crime groups] such as the Kinahans in Dubai’.
These are the top gangsters known to be hiding out in Dubai, and how the criminal underworld functions in the city.
Aerial view of Palm Jumeirah, a manmade island in Dubai with some of the city’s most luxurious buildings
Irish
Christy ‘The Dapper Don’ Kinahan Sr, Daniel ‘Chess’ Kinahan and Christopher ‘Mano’ Kinahan Jr, Kinahan Cartel
At the top of the crime pyramid are the Kinahans. First founded in Dublin by Christy ‘The Dapper Don’ Kinahan Sr in the 90s, they are now considered one of the most powerful mobs in the world.
As well as smuggling drugs, their clients are thought to include terrorist groups and rogue regimes in the Middle East, including Iran and its client militia Hezbollah.
Dubai has been a base for the Kinahans for years, with weak law enforcement allowing the cartel to run its global drug-smuggling, arms-running, extortion and money laundering empire from the comfort of their desert villas.
Former Home Office counter-narcotics official Dr Philip Berry said: ‘Dubai has long been a safe haven for many top-tier criminals, offering them a luxurious lifestyle in a vibrant, international city. It has also provided criminals with networking opportunities with like-minded individuals.’
‘Historically, Dubai’s weak oversight and poor regulation of financial flows, particularly in the property sector, have provided criminals with extensive opportunities to launder their ill-gotten gains.’
The international drug trade consultant, who is also a visiting senior lecturer at KCL, added: ‘While the UAE has signed many extradition treaties, these agreements have not guaranteed that criminals or suspected criminals have been returned to their home countries to face trial.
‘Instead, the extradition process has been inconsistent, opaque, and complicated. That said, over recent years, the UAE has extradited several major criminals, including large-scale cocaine traffickers.’
Christy ‘The Dapper Don’ Kinahan Snr (pictured) was born in Dublin’s north inner city but while in prison in the 1980s he worked on learning languages and business. Upon his release, he relocated to the continent where he established links to European, Asian and South America. He worked in the shadows, creating one of the most ruthless drugs networks in the continent
He is seen here dining with his son Christopher Jnr at Cycle Bistro in Dubai
Daniel Kinahan (pictured) is a suspected crime boss and boxing promoter who once represented ‘The Gypsy King’ Tyson Fury
Christopher ‘Mano’ Jnr allegedly looks over his family’s accounts
Daniel ‘Chess’ Kinahan, Christy ‘The Dapper Don’ Kinahan Snr and Christopher ‘Mano’ Jnr are all wanted, with US rewards totalling $15million
Although Christy Kinahan Sr founded his family’s gang, the day-to-day operations are thought to be run by Daniel ‘Chess’ Kinahan, while the accounts are allegedly looked over by Christopher ‘Mano’ Kinahan Jr.
Despite US and worldwide sanctions on their assets, much of the Kinahans’ money is in property.
Records suggest Daniel’s wife Caoimhe Robinson, who is not a fugitive and not thought to be involved in criminality, has sold a significant amount of Dubai real estate, including a £4.3million mansion and a £10million luxury villa overlooking a golf course.
The Kinahans have also been able to invest in cryptocurrency, the gold trade – for which Dubai is an international centre – and have an estimated €1.5billion (£1.26bn) in offshore bank accounts.
A Manchester gangland source told MailOnline: ‘Jewellery and gold are an important means of exchange out there.
‘All the lads from Manchester moved to Dubai years ago. And is not just Manchester. There are a lot of Scousers out there and lads from Yorkshire and Birmingham too.
Caoimhe has sold and let millions of pounds worth of property in Dubai despite international sanctions freezing her husband’s assets
Daniel Kinahan’s wife Caoimhe Robinson has been linked to a slate of property deals in Dubai since 2022. This includes buying a four-bedroom, 300 sq m apartment in the Elite Residence skyscraper (third from left) for £750,000
Daniel Kinahan purchased an office in Jumeirah Bay Tower (middle) in 2017, records show. This was later sanctioned and now cannot be sold
Property records show Ms Robinson bought a villa in the high-end community of Parkway Vistas in November 2018 for around £3.6million. Pictured is a general view of the development, there is no suggestion any of the properties shown are linked to her
Ms Robinson’s name also appears in the leaked records alongside a 2,200 sq m. villa in the Emirates Hills development that she bought for £5million in 2020. This is also a general view
‘If you are in the drug game everyone gets on. Nobody seems to fall out in Dubai – that all happens back here.
‘The lads all have their money in gold. Watches and other jewellery are used to settle some debts and things like that.’
He added: ‘The weather is a lot better for a start. The majority of the lads all the say the same thing – it’s just a lot less stressful.
‘All the bother from the street level disputes and fall-outs fade away when you are there. And you don’t have to worry about the police filming you when you go for a burger.
‘The whole Manchester thing changed years ago. Most of the drug firms actually get on with each other – they are all in it together. In Dubai everyone gets on with each other.
‘Some of the girls out there get jobs in the beauty sector, or work in property sales and management.
‘And the low crime rate is perfect for the lads with young families. You can let the kids play in the park at night and nothing will happen to them.’
Scots
Steven Lyons, head of the Lyons Family of Glasgow
The Lyons family is allied with the Kinahans and has used this partnership to stay relevant in the Scottish gangland scene.
Since 2001, the Lyons have been in a feud with fellow Glasgow gangsters the Daniels – although this had ramped up this year owing to a new player on the scene, Ross ‘Miami/Mr Big’ McGill.
Steven Lyons has been hiding in Dubai since 2006, when two gunmen stormed a garage in Glasgow and tried to kill him.
His cousin Michael Lyons was shot dead but Steven Lyons escaped with gunshot wounds to his leg and back, while an associate was left in a coma and lost a kidney.
The Lyons are themselves well known for their brutal violence – from gunning down rival Daniels enforcer Kevin ‘Gerbil’ Carroll to death in an Asda car park to almost slicing the face off Daniels chief Steven ‘Bonzo’ Daniel, who is now known as the Scottish Scarface, during an attempted hit.
Aside from being further away from his enemies, Steven Lyons appears to have grown comfortable running his business from Dubai.
Steven Lyons (pictured) is now the boss of the Lyons gang after two senior members were gunned down in Spain
A Manchester gangster told the Mail: ‘I have been invited out there by one of the lads. He tells me that there a lot of misconceptions about life in Dubai.
‘Firstly a lot of the dealers live in modest home and live carefully. They shop in the supermarkets and might eat out in restaurant as a treat.
‘I think certain celebrities have distorted the way we think about Dubai – but it’s not all helicopters and private islands.
‘You can buy a day pass to a nice hotel with a pool as a treat but apart from that you just keep your head down. I think the important conversations take place on burner phones. You just throw them away every other month or so.
‘Obviously there are the people at the top of the chain who you see on Netflix and that. But there are the exception.
‘The majority of the lads are are much lower down the chain, which suits them. They just tick over.’
Ross ‘Miami’ AKA ‘Mr Big’ McGill
Before this year, Ross ‘Miami’ AKA ‘Mr Big’ McGill was not considered a major mobster: he was a former Rangers hooligan who had posed with Steven Gerrard and fled Scotland around four years ago, supposedly scared he would be arrested on drug charges.
But since then, he has capitalised on the jailing of key drug bosses such as Glasgow’s Jamie ‘Iceman’ Stevenson and cocaine king Richardson to take effective control of the country’s entire cocaine supply.
When he was supposedly duped out of £500,000 of cocaine – for which he allegedly received counterfeit cash as payment, it seems to have provoked a wave of violence in Scotland.
He allegedly put £100,000 bounties on the heads of Richardson and his Glasgow allies the Daniel family, which is run by the Scottish Scarface Steven ‘Bonzo’ Daniel.
The man at the centre of the violent gang war is believed to be Ross McGill, a Rangers FC hooligan pictured here with former Rangers boss Steven Gerrard – whose daughter Lilly is engaged to the son of a top ranking Kinahan cartel thug associated with the Lyons gang
Lyons gangsters Eddie Lyons Jnr (left) and Ross Monaghan (right) were shot dead by a masked gunman while they were watching the Champions League final at Monaghans Irish pub in Fuengirola, Spain on May 31
Kingpin Steven ‘Bonzo’ Daniel (pictured), who was scarred in a grisly attack by rival gangsters armed with a meat cleaver, is being targeted in the gang war
Bonzo’s Edinburgh-based associate, mob boss Mark Richardson (pictured), has also been targeted
McGill also teamed up with the Daniels’ arch-enemy the Lyons mob, from Glasgow; allied with the infamous Irish Kinahan Cartel; and hired a gang of secretive thugs called Tamo Junto (TMJ) to wage a fierce gang war aiming to ‘eradicate’ the Richardsons and the Daniels.
So far the violence has seen firebombs, machete attacks and even a double-murder in Spain of Steven Lyons’ brother Eddie Lyons Jr and Lyons associate Ross Monaghan in a revenge killing.
McGill is thought to be living in Dubai with his girlfriend Olivia Newall, who is not thought to be involved in criminality.
It is thought Newall met McGill through her cousin Lloyd Cross, who is a convicted cocaine smuggler known as Jamie ‘Iceman’ Stevenson’s right hand man as well as a close friend of McGill.
Spanish
Alejandro ‘El Tigre’ AKA ‘Don Máquina’ Salgado Vega
El Tigre is suspected of being one of Spain’s biggest drug traffickers.
In April, a judge in Spain charged him with ‘alleged participation in a drug trafficking crime that causes serious harm to health, involving a significant amount, as part of a criminal organisation and simulating international trade operations’.
Spain’s National Police has called El Tigre one of the ‘most well-known and powerful drug traffickers in Spain’.
A Europol report on Dubai said: ‘Dubai (United Arab Emirates) has emerged as a remote coordination hub where high-level members and other criminal actors, such as brokers and organisers, reside to coordinate the activities of criminal networks and hinder law enforcement detection.’
Pictured: Alejandro ‘El Tigre’ AKA ‘Don Máquina’ Salgado Vega, who is suspected of being one of Spain’s biggest drug traffickers
Sources have debated whether he has remained in Dubai or fled to a different country after one of his associates was arrested and hauled before the court.
Oscar Sanchez, the chief inspector of Spain’s Economic and Tax Crime Unit, was arrested in November last year accused of drug trafficking.
A jaw-dropping €20million in bank notes were found stuffed in the walls of the Spanish anti-fraud chief’s home.
Italian
Ciro Arianna, suspected Camorrista
Most suspected gangsters try to keep a relatively low profile, especially if they’re accused of being part of the Camorra, a secret society of criminals from Naples.
That is apart from Instagram influencer and self-professed crypto and NFT mogul Ciro Arianna.
The 39-year-old moved to Dubai from the small commune of Ottaviano on the slopes of Mount Vesuvius, near Naples, in 2017.
Ciro Arianna is an Instagram influencer and self-professed crypto and NFT mogul
However, it has been alleged that Arianna laundered large amounts of money made from the smuggling of cocaine by Camorra mafioso-turned-supergrass Raffaele ‘King of Narcos’ Imperiale
By 2020 he had been investigated and arrested for allegedly smuggling cigarettes.
Since then, it has been alleged that Arianna laundered large amounts of money made from the smuggling of cocaine by Camorra mafioso-turned-supergrass Raffaele ‘King of Narcos’ Imperiale.
According to Dubai Unlocked data from C4ADS and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), Ariana bought a luxury flat in the Sunrise Bay Tower, a skyscraper with a view on the Palm Jumeirah artificial island, for £1.45million in 2022.
Dutch-Bosnian
Edin ‘Tito’ AKA ‘The European Escobar’ Gačanin, Tito and Dino Cartel
Until the start of 2020, Edin ‘Tito’ AKA ‘The European Escobar’ Gačanin’s gang was snuggling up to 50 tons of cocaine a year into Europe from South America, according to Europol.
As well as the head of the Tito and Dino Cartel, he was part of a ‘super cartel’ that included the Kinahans, which was responsible for a third of the cocaine smuggled to Europe from South America annually.
In 2023, the now 43-year-old admitted to Dutch prosecutors that he smuggled 2.5 tons of white powder, which landed him with a seven-year jail sentence and €1million.
Pictured: Dzenis Kadric, left, and Edin Gacanin, far right, together in Dubai
However, he has never gone to Holland to serve that sentence and it is beleived he has continued to direct his gang to smuggle drugs while he lounges in Dubai.
A Europol document said: ‘Despite his arrest in November 2022, the investigation showed that the high-value target [Gačanin] continued to direct the drug trade from the source countries of South America to Europe and Australia, from his base in Dubai.
‘He is also suspected of being responsible for the production of synthetic drugs in the EU.’
In fact, it was only in March this year that Tito was finally arrested in Dubai, where he still remains as Dutch authorities try to extradite him.
Bosnian
Dženis Kadrić, suspected Bosnian mafia
Former Bosnian police officer Dženis Kadrić moved to Dubai to become the bodyguard of top Balkan cocaine trafficker Edin ‘Tito’ AKA ‘The European Escobar’ Gačanin.
He rented an apartment in Dubai’s famous Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world, with his influencer wife and a cat called El Chapo, just like the nickname of Mexico’s infamous Sinaloa Cartel chief Joaquín Guzmán.
Former Bosnian police officer Dženis Kadrić (pictured with his wife) moved to Dubai to become the bodyguard of top Balkan cocaine trafficker Edin ‘Tito’ AKA ‘The European Escobar’ Gačanin
Dženis Kadrić and his wife lived on the 37th floor of the Burj Khalifa (pictured) in an apartment they paid around £50,000 a year for
His wife’s social media accounts, which included an account specifically for their cat, tipped off journalists from Bellingcat as to where they were living.
It turned out to be the 37th floor of the Burj Khalifa in an apartment they paid around £50,000 a year for.
When police raided his home, a stache of automatic weapons and €55,000 in cash were seized.
Although Kadrić was arrested on suspicion of offences related to organised crime gang, drug smuggling and money laundering last year, he has since been released despite remaining a suspect.
When he was interrogated by police, he told them he simply earned a ‘medium income’.
What next for Dubai’s gangster elite?
This year, after almost a decade of negotiations, Irish police, An Garda Síochána (also referred to as the Gardaí) extradited top Kinahan gangster Sean ‘Lugs’ McGovern from Dubai in what they view will be a test case for extraditing and arresting other senior members of the Cartel.
Dr Philip Berry told MailOnline: ‘Given the profits generated by the cocaine business, it seems likely that the Kinahan organised crime group will remain in the industry as long as they continue to evade the authorities.
‘The Kinahans have also been involved in trafficking other drugs, including heroin and cannabis, and have participated in other criminal activities.
‘Continued law enforcement operations against the Kinahan organisation, Sean McGovern’s extradition, and the cooperative relationship between the Irish and UAE authorities means Dubai may not be as safe a haven as the Kinahan organisation once thought.’
Lugs is not the only Dubai gangster to be extradited.
Ex-Interpol official Vitalie Pirlog, who is accused of corruption and fraud including taking bribes to delete Interpol red notices against criminals was arrested on June 15 this year.
After almost a decade of negotiations, Irish police extradited top Kinahan gangster Sean ‘Lugs’ McGovern (pictured with his partner Anita Freeman) from Dubai in what they think will be a test case for extraditing and arresting other senior members of the Cartel
Left to right: Kinahan Cartel member Liam Byrne with his wife Simon McEnroe and Sean ‘Lugs’ McGovern with his partner Anita Freeman. Both McEnroe and Freeman are not thought to be involved in criminality in any way
Lugs is thought to be on a 23-hour lockdown in Ireland’s only maximum-security jail, Portlaoise Prison
The ‘King of Narcos’ Raffaele Imperiale was arrested in Dubai in 2021 for having a fake passport and was expelled in February 2022.
Months later the top Camorra drug trafficker who attended Daniel ‘Chess’ Kinahan’s wedding turned supergrass when he became a state informer.
He was jailed in 2024 for 15 years despite his information given on the Kinahans.
Also arrested in the last six years was Dutch-Morrocan murderer and drug trafficker Ridouan Taghi, the head of the Mocro Faffia, in 2019, and his son Faissal Taghi in 2024.
Ridouan was jailed for life in 2024 for murder and drug trafficking after a trial in the Netherlands.
He allegedly attended the wedding of Daniel ‘Chess’ Kinahan and Caoimhe Robinson in 2017.
Faissal was extradited to Netherlands in July 2024 on drugs and murder-related charges.
The ‘King of Narcos’ Raffaele Imperiale (pictured) was arrested in Dubai in 2021 for having a fake passport and was expelled in February 2022
Also arrested in the last six years was Dutch-Morrocan murderer and drug trafficker Ridouan Taghi (pictured), the head of the Mocro Faffia, in 2019
A former Met Police Detective who spent thirty years at Scotland Yard told MailOnline: ‘Dubai was a stronghold for the criminal community in the way Marbella was in the past, but that is changing.
‘The pressure from the west for the authorities in the UAE has been growing and growing.
‘The Sean McGovern extradition was a significant one in that it showed a very real working partnership between the Irish government and UAE.
‘In my view the game is now up for [organised crime groups] such as the Kinahans who are said to be in Dubai.’
