THE HEAD of the Kinahan gang in Britain has been ordered to pay more than £1m or face an extra 12 years in prison.
Irishman Thomas 'Bomber' Kavanagh, 57, was jailed for 21 years in March 2022 for orchestrating the importation of multi-million-pound drug shipments with a street value of around £30m.
Two years later, he was handed an additional sentence after admitting firearms offences.
Kavanagh has now been ordered to stump up more than £1.1m following a Proceeds of Crime Act investigation led by the National Crime Agency (NCA).
Another high-ranking member of the gang, 43-year-old Gary Vickery, has been ordered to pay back £109,312.90 within three months or face another two years in prison.
"We will continue to use every tool at our disposal to target, disrupt and dismantle organised crime groups, deprive them of their assets and ensure they face justice," said Kay Mellor, Head of Operations HQ at the NCA.
Fortified mansion
Vickery was arrested in October 2017 after NCA officers seized 15kg of cocaine and more than 220kg of cannabis found inside a six-tonne industrial tarmac removal machine in Dover.
Subsequent investigations showed Kavanagh was heading up the criminal enterprise, and he was arrested at Birmingham airport as he returned from holiday in January 2019.
Following his sentencing, NCA investigators began looking into the gang's finances and assets for seizure under the Proceeds of Crime Act.
Officers estimated that Kavanagh's criminal profits were in the region £12.2m, but recoverable assets amounted to £1,123,096.84.
This included his 50 per cent share of his fortified family mansion in Tamworth, Staffordshire, money from the sale of various other properties in Britain and a villa in Spain, and approximately £150,000 of high-end bags, clothes and accessories which were discovered when his house was searched following his initial arrest in 2019.
Vickery, originally from Dublin, was also subject to the Proceeds of Crime Act hearing.
At previous hearings, orders were made to forfeit an Audemars Piguet watch worth £75,000, as well as just over €100,000 that was seized from a hotel room when Vickery was arrested.
In October 2024, Kavanagh admitted additional firearms offences and perverting the course of justice after NCA officers uncovered a plan that Kavanagh hoped would reduce his prison sentence.
Kavanagh directed associates Shaun Kent and Liam Byrne to purchase firearms and ammunition and bury them so he could reveal their whereabouts to NCA investigators.
All three were jailed for a total of 17 years, with Kavanagh's six years to be served on top of his 21-year sentence.
'Untouchable'
"Thomas Kavanagh was the head of the UK's arm of the Kinahan organised crime group, responsible for the importation and distribution of drugs and firearms, making millions of pounds in the process," added Ms Mellor.
"He and his gang believed they were untouchable, but that proved to be their downfall.
"Kavanagh and Vickery will be behind bars for many years to come and now have to pay back more than £1m to the state."
