A BBC Panorama team has been threatened following the airing of a documentary into the Kinahan crime cartel’s influence in world boxing, the broadcaster has said.
Police warned the BBC about an unspecified threat from unnamed criminal elements in Northern Ireland in relation to the programme, which was broadcast on Monday, the public service broadcaster said.
The documentary investigated the role Daniel Kinahan has played in professional boxing.
The High Court in Dublin previously named Kinahan, who lives in the UAE, as a senior figure in an organised crime gang involved in international drug trafficking operations and firearm offences.
He has no convictions.
BBC’s head of current affairs Jo Carr said: “The BBC places the utmost priority on the safety of our teams, whose journalism plays a vital role in a free society.
“It is despicable and intolerable if thugs think they can muzzle a free press through intimidation.
“We will continue to throw light into even the murkiest of corners.”
The Kinahan cartel has been involved in a feud with the Hutch gang since 2015.
In 2016, an attempt was made on Daniel Kinahan’s life at a boxing weigh-in at the Regency Hotel in Dublin.
Kinahan’s involvement in boxing caused controversy last year when British fighter Tyson Fury thanked him for reaching an agreement for him to take on Anthony Joshua next year.
Fury said he was responsible for organising “the biggest fight in British boxing history”.
But within weeks Fury’s team announced that Kinahan would no longer negotiate for him.
