Jack Kavanagh (24) was arrested in Spain last year as part of an investigation into the supply of firearms in the UK after authorities compromised the gang’s EncroChat messages.
He had fought his removal to England and has been held in custody awaiting a court ruling on his extradition.
In a media release this morning the National Crime Agency (NCA) confirmed that Jack Kavanagh was escorted back to London last week and appeared before Westminster Magistrate’s Court on October 4.
He had been in custody in Spain since May 2023 after being arrested at Malaga Airport while transiting between Dubai and Turkey.
It comes just weeks after his father Bomber and uncle Liam Byrne pleaded guilty to possessing weapons and ammunition as part of the same investigation.
Craig Turner, the NCA’s Deputy Director of Investigations, said: “Jack Kavanagh is the second associate linked to the Kinahan OCG who has been returned to the UK, after thinking he could evade us.
“Our work to target the alleged criminal activities of the crime group continues. Our global reach, and ongoing partnership with international law enforcement agencies should act as a warning to anyone who thinks they can go on the run and avoid facing justice – we will not stop until you are back in the UK and behind bars”.
Jack Kavanagh in custody of the National Crime Agency.
Jack Kavanagh will next appear at the Old Bailey in London on November 1.
Last month his father sensationally admitted to firearms charges which related to his associates stockpiling weapons so they could act as informants and get him a lighter sentence for drug smuggling.
Bomber is currently serving a 21-year sentence for masterminding a £30m drug smuggling operation and was the gang’s main man in the UK.
Described as one of the Kinahan crime gang’s most trusted associates, he also admitted to perverting the course of justice at the Old Bailey on September 18 last.
Along with his brother-in-law Liam Byrne, who is also a high-ranking member of the crime group, both men pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to possesses a prohibited weapon and two counts of conspiracy to possess ammunition for a firearm without a certificate between 9 January 2020 and 3 June 2021.
The court heard that while awaiting sentence at Ipswich Crown Court, Bomber masterminded a plot together with Byrne and others to amass firearms from the UK, the Netherlands, the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
They then intended to tell the NCA where the firearms were so Kavanagh would get a reduced sentence.
Bomber Kavanagh spoke to the NCA and told them weapons had been brought to the UK from Holland.
He produced a map which led police to a farm in Northern Ireland and two buried holdalls containing eleven sub-machine guns.
But the NCA had been passed information on the gang after French authorities hacked the encrypted chat EncroChat in April 2020.
The NCA used this information to determine that Kavanagh was lying.
A provisional date for Bomber and Byrne’s sentencing hearing has been set for 21 and 22 October.
