The Hutch crime group is still a “primary” drug trafficking gang in Ireland, but the Kinahan cartel “no longer exists” in this country as it did at the “height of its power” a decade ago, An Garda Síochána's top gangland investigator has said. Detective Chief Superintendent Séamus Boland warned, however, that while the Kinahan cartel has gone “quiet” within Ireland, experience shows such gangs will “always come to the fore again”. The head of the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau (DOCB) said almost 100 associates of the two groups were successfully prosecuted since 2016. He said the Hutch organised crime group is “still a primary organised crime gang in this jurisdiction”, which is “heavily involved in drug trafficking”. He said the Kinahan organised crime group “no longer exists today as it did back in 2016, when it was at the height of its power”.

Source: Irish Examiner February 05, 2026 00:30 UTC