Report: Mexican cartels get their hooks in Dublin Airport

The findings made public by the Revenue Commissioner and Gardaí point to a growing presence of Latin American cartels in Ireland, with reports of a new trend of desperate favela residents being used as drug couriers via Dublin Airport.

After establishing links with the Kinahan cartel in the 2010s to make Ireland a cog in the flow of cocaine into Europe, Latin American cartels now appear to be cultivating their commercial interests. Last month alone, a shocking €45 million worth of narcotics was seized at Dublin airport.

The rumblings of a drug gang in Killorglin, County Kerry, with links to local business interests, underlined the growing presence of Latin American drug cartels in our region. Foreign security correspondents focused on Ireland’s lack of border and maritime security, which would provide safe havens for South American gangsters to enter Europe.

The Mexican Sinaloa cartel and the Colombian drug gang Clan del Golfo are the main cartels investigating Ireland, as the Irish gangland may be subordinated to the new criminal entrepreneurs.

It should be noted that the cartels mentioned above, while criminal, have a state-like capacity that far exceeds that of the Irish state itself.

While the drug cartels have so far relied on the Republic’s relaxed security outlook and existing Irish contacts, the country’s open migration policy could soon fuel a new chapter in the drug war.

Albanian people smugglers have already made Dublin Airport a major transit point to the UK, thanks to our weak Irish asylum protocols. The sudden presence of Latin American cartels is further evidence of a looming security gap.

As if the new arrivals weren’t enough, it seems that even the Iranians and Hezbollah are finding ways to smuggle drugs through Ireland, as evidenced by a spectacular and under-reported drug bust in Cork earlier this year.

Barely able to bring down the local thugs during the Kinahan-Hutch feud, the sophisticated narco-politics of the Mexican slums brought to the Irish doorstep is a disaster waiting to happen. The pebbles before the cobbles are beginning to be seen in a wider trend of Latin cartels descending on Ireland with deadly effect when they get their claws in properly.

Despite the press furore over the far-right, migration control is a vital part of national security. The first warning signs of a new crisis are already visible at customs at Dublin airport.

What is now a drop may soon become a torrent.