Daniel Kinahan has broken his silence as the operation to bring the alleged mob boss back to Ireland got underway. The country's most wanted fugitive said he was "looking forward to getting back home".
Government jet departs for Dubai
The 49-year-old is due to be flown back to Ireland on a Government jet. The Irish Air Corps €53 million Dassault Falcon 6X took off from Casement Aerodrome in Baldonnel on the outskirts of Dublin at 10.30am on Saturday.
It will land in the United Arab Emirates city in the evening before Kinahan boards before the aircraft flies back to Ireland, landing at the Casement Aerodrome on Sunday afternoon.
Gardai - Irish police - are on board the direct flight to the United Arab Emirates as part of a complex operation that has been in the works and carefully planned for weeks, reports the Irish Mirror.
Kinahan speaks out in podcast clip
Scots podcaster James English, who runs the Anything Goes podcast, has shared a clip of an interview with Kinahan, who claims he is "looking forward" to getting back on Irish soil.
The 42-year-old Glaswegian, who interviewed Kinahan in 2022 before he and key allies were sanctioned by the United States, shared the portion of his interview with him on Saturday.
"I reckon the security is going to be crazy," Kinahan told James English. "And I'm sitting here reflecting in the little phone box, s***hole box, and I'm thinking of what happened, how I got here, all the stuff that's happened in my life, the whole lot just reflecting."
Kinahan said he wanted to do "good things and big things" but life "didn't go that way" for him.
"And when you look at things, you know everything's in God's hand. If anything happens, it’s the way it's supposed to happen."
"And I've just been sitting, reflecting, and this place I’m after staying in is an absolute really bad s***hole. So I'm looking forward to getting home."
Charges expected
He added: "And it's crazy when you think of it. Think of the life of where I come from, where I'm born, everything that I've been through, and then going back to Ireland now, 25 years later."
"And I'm still the same as I was, still the same friends from when I grew up with, still the same people that I know."
"I was always proud to be Irish, and I wanted to do good things and big things. Obviously, life didn't go that way for me. All the stuff from all the media, what people think of me, and the perceptions they have of me."
He continued: "But I'm still so proud to be from Ireland. Proud to be from Oliver Bond flats and bred there."
"And the mentality, the humor, the food. I guess I'm gonna have a lot of that when I come back in anyway. So I'm looking forward to getting back home."
The Director of Public Prosecutions has already ruled that Kinahan is to be charged with serious gangland offences in Ireland. It is understood he is to face charges of directing a crime gang - an offence that can see anyone convicted of it jailed for life.
