Irish crime gangs used Russian networks to launder at least €2m a month
Bundles of banknotes seized by Britain's National Crime Agency as it and other international agencies brought down a multibillion-dollar money laundering network run by two Russian millionaires. Picture: National Crime Agency/PA
Irish drug gangs were sending at least €2m per month over recent years into Russian money laundering networks targeted in a British-US operation.
Security estimates suggest that in the region of €50m may have been laundered by Irish organised crime groups, including the Kinahan cartel, through the worldwide networks.
It is believed that a major Irish drug trafficking outfit, based in north Dublin and Meath, was among the crime groups that used the Russian money laundering service. It is thought that Irish gangs using the networks were also involved in the British drugs trade.
An Garda Síochána assisted the British National Crime Agency (NCA) in relation to Irish crime groups using the system.
The NCA announced on Wednesday that two Russian networks — Smart and TGR — had been “exposed and disrupted” by an operation resulting in 84 arrests and the seizure of £20m (€24m).
This combined with an announcement by the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) that it had sanctioned four leaders of the networks and four businesses linked to TGR.
The NCA and OFAC said the Russian networks also assisted Russian clients targeted by international sanctions linked to the war in Ukraine and helped fund Russian espionage operations.
The NCA said Smart and TGR “used their global reach to launder money for transnational crime groups such as the Kinahans”.
It said: “The notorious family-run crime syndicate, responsible for trafficking drugs and firearms into the UK and around the world, were sanctioned by the US in 2022.”
The NCA said an “extensive cash courier network” linked to Smart ran operations across UK and Europe, including Ireland. This network was led by Russian boss Semen Kuksov, who co-ordinated with one of the Smart leaders.
“One courier linked to Kuskov’s network, Igor Logvinov, was arrested by An Garda Síochána in Ireland and sentenced to three years imprisonment,” the NCA statement said.
Logvinov was spotted by the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau at a “cash handover” at a South Dublin petrol station in July 2023. On foot of a court warrant they searched the home where Logvinov was staying and found €56,350 in cash.
