A key mafia partner of Daniel Kinahan has been arrested in Dubai – after almost six years on the run.
Raffaele Imperiale, a leader of the Camorra organised crime group, was arrested on August 4, Italian cops said yesterday.
And even though Italy has no extradition treaty with the United Arab Emirates, authorities there are now preparing to send him back home so he can serve an eight-year jail term for drug trafficking offences.
That has led gardai investigating Dubai-based Kinahan, 44, to become even more confident that they will be able to get him kicked out of the Middle Eastern state – and brought back to Ireland over serious alleged offences.
An investigator said last night: “If they can get Raffaele home, the same can happen for Kinahan.”
Imperiale was one of a number of major criminals to attend Kinahan’s wedding to Dubliner Caoimhe Robinson in Dubai in 2017 – an event that was filmed by undercover Drugs Enforcement Administration detectives from the US.
DEA operatives later sent sensitive documents to the Dutch authorities, claiming that Kinahan, Imperiale, a Bosnian called Edin Gacanin and Holland-based gangster Ridouan Taghi all ran a massive cocaine cartel that was one of the top 50 in the world.
Taghi is now on trial for a series of murders after he was booted out of Dubai two years ago when he was arrested on a false passport.
For the latest news and breaking news visit dublinlive.ie/news.
Get all the big headlines, pictures, analysis, opinion and video on the stories that matter to you.
Follow us on Twitter @DublinLive - the official Dublin Live Twitter account - real news in real time.
We're also on Facebook/dublinlive - your must-see news, features, videos and pictures throughout the day from the capital.
Get the latest breaking news to your inbox by signing up to our free newsletter
