Senior Kinahan figure Sean McGovern arrested in Dubai over Hutch feud murder

A leading figure at the apex of the Kinahan cartel, Sean McGovern, has been arrested in Dubai, more than two years after it emerged the DPP had directed he be charged over a Kinahan-Hutch feud murder.
These was concern within Government and the Garda when the authorities in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) failed to move against him. However, the fact McGovern has now been arrested is a significant breakthrough for the Garda.
He is the first senior cartel figure to be arrested in Dubai and his detention there will now increase confidence the UAE is now willing to also act against cartel founder Christy Kinahan snr and his sons, Daniel and Christopher.
McGovern, a Dubliner who was injured in the Regency Hotel shooting in the city in 2016, is wanted in the Republic to face charges over the December 2016 murder of Noel Kirwan, an innocent man gunned down because he was linked to the Hutch family, some of whom were friends of his.
Minister for Justice Helen McEntee welcomed the arrest, even though she could not comment on individual cases.
“Any person involved in organised crime should know there is no hiding place; you will face justice. The Government is taking all necessary steps to dismantle organised crime,” she said.
“Many organised crime gangs think they can evade justice by crossing borders; they cannot. There can be no hiding place anywhere in the world for criminals.”
McGovern (38), who was arrested in the early hours of Thursday morning Irish time at his home in Dubai, was one of seven leading figures in the Kinahan cartel sanctioned by the US authorities in 2022. He had been living openly in Dubai in recent years, apparently in the belief he would not be arrested.
The authorities in UAE have no extradition agreements with the European Union or individual member states, a factor that has drawn many leading criminals to Dubai from all over Europe.
McGovern was in 2022 described by the US Department of the Treasury as “Daniel Kinahan’s adviser and closest confidant”. It added: “evidence indicates that all dealings with Daniel Kinahan go through Sean McGovern.”
McGovern, whose house in Crumlin, Dublin, was seized by the Criminal Assets Bureau, had also “managed communications on behalf of Daniel Kinahan, and he sells multi-kilogram quantities of cocaine”, the department said.
When those US sanctions were being imposed, the Garda also confirmed for the first time the DPP had already directed McGovern should stand trial in Dublin for his alleged role in the Kinahan-Hutch feud murder of Noel Kirwan (62) in Clondalkin, Co Dublin, in 2016, and other charges relating to organised crime.
Mr Kirwan was shot dead as he sat in his Ford Mondeo car outside his Dublin home just after 5pm on December 22nd, 2016. He was wounded six times in a well-planned gangland ambush and after his movements had been monitored by a tracking device that was attached to his car.
The victim had no involvement in crime though it appears the Kinahan cartel, and their group in Dublin – the Byrne crime group – believed Mr Kirwan was linked to the people involved in the Regency attack, in which David Byrne was killed.
David Byrne was a brother of Liam Byrne – both from Raleigh Square, Crumlin. When he was shot dead, the Kinahan and Byrne groups targeted members of the rival Hutch group. They also targeted relatives of the Hutch group and people they perceived were close to the Hutch family, including Mr Kirwan, even though he had no involvement in crime.