THE panicked leader of The Family ordered for data to be wiped from the Ghost network when he realised law enforcement had hacked it, The Irish Sun can reveal.
But the chief of Ireland’s top drug gang was too late — as the encrypted service used by criminals was breached months before cops around the world carried out a series of raids last year.
The thug, 47, was last week quizzed by gardai on directing an organised crime gang as his underworld business continues to go up in flames.
The Irish Sun has learned that detectives have connected him to a number of hacked messages and usernames on the Ghost network.
The career criminal also has been placed holding meetings with significant figures involved in moving the mob’s drugs and money.
Gardai believe the beefed-up gangster had a hands-on role in directing and overseeing at least nine drug trafficking and money laundering operations last year.
A source told The Irish Sun: “He’s in big trouble, this is years of work and connections he has built blowing up in his face.”
Despite running a transnational organised crime gang who have become a priority target for the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau in recent years, the mobster has stayed put in Dublin.
Last Monday morning, the door of his house was smashed open at 6.30am.
Officers had their guns drawn and roared “armed gardai”.
As the veteran criminal was placed in handcuffs and put into the back-seat of an unmarked car in his grey tracksuit, four other premises in the capital, Wexford and Kildare, were raided simultaneously.
These were properties where his two brothers and two key facilitators — the gang’s tech guru and head of logistics in Ireland — were lifted.
Later in the day, a sixth man who helped store drugs was also arrested, while six more individuals were lifted in Spain by cops over there.
Their use of the Ghost network had come back to haunt them — but not for the first time.
It was used by criminals globally to arrange their illegal activities as it was thought to be completely secure.
But global cops managed to hack the service in February 2024, giving them access to massive amounts of intel on the gangs who used Ghost.
KEPT UNDER WRAPS
Officers kept the infiltration under wraps until September 2024 — giving them months to act on the info while gangsters were clueless as to how they had been foiled.
By the stage the Ghost hack was made public, gardai had seized €22 million worth of cocaine and hundreds of thousands of cash linked directly to The Family and those working for it.
That did not include various seizures in recent months this year linked to the mob.
Gardai were able to make the busts thanks to the work of specialist officers who examined dozens of encrypted Ghost devices seized from members of the gang.
This difficult and technical work sees them break down coded language and put real names to usernames, allowing them to link Ghost messages to crims.
OTHER EVIDENCE
But when it came to The Family’s leader, investigators needed to get other evidence to match him to his messages, like his daily movements and CCTV.
Like other thugs high up the chain in OCGs, he was extremely careful at not giving too much away on the off chance the messages ever became public.
With The Family — who have gone on to dominate Ireland’s cocaine market after the Kinahans were wiped out here — it would be a first ever case in Ireland involving hacked encrypted messages if he is charged.
“He’s in big trouble, this is years of work and connections he has built blowing up in his face.”
An Irish Sun Source
But gardai remain confident of making charges stick.
They believe the leader is the sole director of the illicit business, with his two brothers helping with a number of key roles — including sourcing customers for their cocaine and heroin.
The top man is also suspected of ordering the gang’s Kildare tech guru — who supplied and helped them operate their Ghost devices — to wipe data after realising law enforcement intercepted the platform.
Gardai have placed the leader at meetings with other key figures who helped facilitate the gang, including their head of logistics in Ireland.
SECRET STASH
This Wexford man, in his 60s, took control of their drug importations when they landed here concealed in secret compartments of articulated lorries. He also organised for cash shipments out of the country.
The lorries were initially packed with cocaine in their EU HQ, a warehouse in the eastern Spanish city of Castellon, before they were driven to France and shipped here.
And sources said Ghost messages show just how The Family did all this.
One said: “This all relates to bringing drugs into this country, supplying smaller scale gangs, and money laundering their vast profits.
“The data that was gained from the Ghost network clearly puts this organisation at the centre of it. There has been a series of arrests and seizures in both Ireland and Spain that link back to the gang and the messages on the platform.”
DPP DECISION
While the Ghost network helped The Family operate under the radar for a long period over recent years, it might also lead them to be convicted in a court.
Ultimately, that decision rests with the DPP who is examining extensive files on each of the men after they were released from custody last week.
Another source told us: “Other arrests are likely in this probe. A huge amount of credit has to go to the gardai, but also to their international law enforcement partners.”
Since the beginning of their work with gardai, Spanish cops have severely thwarted the gang’s European op.
Last week’s arrests brought to 20 the number lifted in Spain over The Family.
