The arrest of Daniel Kinahan has reignited interest in how his father Christy Kinahan, founder of the Kinahan Organised Crime Group, wrote Google reviews that gave away his location.
Suspected Irish crime boss Daniel Kinahan has been arrested in the United Arab Emirates. Dubai Police confirmed that an Irish national was detained on Wednesday, acting on an arrest warrant issued by Irish courts. While officials did not initially name him, it is understood the individual is Kinahan, long accused of playing a central role in an international organised crime network.
Who is Daniel Kinahan?
Christy Kinahan, 68, and his two sons, Daniel, 48, and Christopher Jr, 45, are the senior-most members of the Kinahan Organised Crime Group, regarded as one of the world’s most powerful criminal networks.
The organisation, believed to be worth over €1.5 billion, has been linked to drug trafficking, arms smuggling and money laundering operations across multiple continents.
(Also read: Dubai police arrest Irish crime gang boss Daniel Kinahan on organised crime charges)
{{/usCountry}}(Also read: Dubai police arrest Irish crime gang boss Daniel Kinahan on organised crime charges)
{{/usCountry}}At its peak, the network was reportedly part of a “super cartel” that controlled a significant portion of Europe’s cocaine trade. The US government announced a $5 million bounty for information leading to the arrests of the three heads of the Kinahan cartel in 2022.
Daniel Kinahan is believed by investigators to have overseen large parts of the cartel’s operations. According to a BBC report, he relocated to Dubai permanently after an attempt was made on his life at Regency Hotel in 2016.
New footage placed Kinahan in Dubai
The arrest of Daniel Kinahan comes just weeks after a joint investigation by Bellingcat and The Sunday Times, published on March 7, 2026, revealed fresh footage of the Irish cartel boss and his father in Dubai.
The investigation identified images of Kinahan at a mixed martial arts event held on June 14, 2025, at the Coca-Cola Arena. He was seen seated ringside next to former UFC fighter Mounir Lazzez. The report marked the first confirmed sighting of Kinahan since US sanctions were imposed on the family in April 2022.
A frame-by-frame analysis of event footage also confirmed the presence of his father, Christy Kinahan, the founder of the Kinahan cartel, among thousands of spectators. The elder Kinahan, often referred to as “The Dapper Don”, was seen wearing a Panama hat and casual attire.
The images provided rare visual confirmation that the cartel’s leadership, who relocated from Spain to Dubai in 2016, remained in the emirate as recently as last summer.
Google reviews exposed travel history
The March 2026 findings built on an earlier investigation published in 2024 by Bellingcat and The Sunday Times, which uncovered how Christy Kinahan inadvertently revealed details of his movements through online activity.
The cartel kingpin left a digital footprint in the form of Google reviews of the places he visited.
Using the alias “Christopher Vincent”, Kinahan Sr maintained a digital footprint that included a LinkedIn profile and a series of Google reviews dating back to 2019. These posts referenced travel to countries including Spain, Turkey, the Netherlands, Hong Kong, Egypt, Zimbabwe and South Africa.
One review for a restaurant in Istanbul, for example, read: “The restaurant is chic and plush, the service was good but not outstanding.”