How facial recognition technology detected Kinahans’ fraudulent passports and tracked movements

A rich vein of intelligence about the movements of key figures in the Kinahan cartel, including its Dubai-based leaders, was gathered after their fraudulently obtained passports were detected and tracked when facial recognition technology was rolled out in Ireland.
The Irish Times has learned gardaí were, for the first time, able to gather comprehensive up-to-date information about what aliases the men were travelling under, when their passports were used and where they were travelling.
Christopher Kinahan jnr, who has been named by the authorities in Ireland and the US as the cartel’s leader along with his brother Daniel Kinahan, was caught travelling on a fraudulent Irish passport in Germany. Although the German authorities stopped him, they were unable to contact the Garda immediately to discuss next steps.
Kinahan also appears to have convinced the Germans he was the person matching the details in his passport and he was allowed to proceed. Garda sources said the Germans appeared to have difficulty contacting their Irish counterparts because the incident happened very late at night or in the early hours of the morning.
However, intelligence about the incident – as well as fraudulent passports his brother has travelled under and their father and cartel founder, Christy Kinahan snr, used – have helped to inform recent Irish investigations into the three men. A file has gone to the Director of Public Prosecutions – over wider allegations against them, that they run organised crime – and directions are awaited.
It has been established when the Kinahans, and four others, were sanctioned by the US authorities in 2022 that all three were using multiple passports.
Daniel Kinahan had four Irish passports, three of which were fraudulently obtained, as well as a British passport. Christopher Kinahan jnr had three Irish passports, two of which were fraudulently obtained, as well as a British passport. Christopher Kinahan snr had one Irish passport and four British passports.
Biometric passports – containing a chip with personal details of holders – have been issued by Ireland for two decades. They have been required by international travellers, mainly to the US, since the 2001 al-Qaeda terrorist attacks in the US.
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However, facial recognition technology was not fully rolled out by Ireland until 2016. Once the measure was in place it became almost impossible to obtain and travel undetected using passports bearing multiple identities but with the same photograph.
However, leading figures in the Kinahan cartel and their Irish unit, the Byrne organised crime group, continued to use multiple passports after that date. Some of those predated the introduction of facial recognition technology while others were applied for, at times under the criminals’ genuine identities, post-2016.
Garda sources said the mix of passports, coupled with the introduction of facial recognition technology, effectively created a near real-time surveillance system on the international travel patterns of the key figures.
The Kinahan cartel obtained some of their fraudulent passports from criminals in Britain, who were caught and jailed in recent years. In other cases, the Kinahans and their allies in Ireland obtained the details of deceased or vulnerable men, born around the same time, and used their details to apply for passports using their own photograph.
Some of these fraudulently obtained passports are believed to have been arranged by veteran criminal James “Jaws” Byrne, who died earlier this month. He was the father of Liam Byrne, the Kinahans’ key ally in Dublin for years.