Garda Commissioner Drew Harris is holding a meeting with police in Dubai to discuss the possibility of bringing the leaders of the Kinahan cartel back to Ireland to face justice.
The Irish Examiner understands the high-level Garda delegation also includes Assistant Commissioner Justin Kelly, head of Organised and Serious Crime, which is leading the hunt for the cartel leadership.
It is thought to be the first time either commissioner has formally visited Dubai and marks a significant development in the investigation against the cartel.
The leaders of the network, Christopher Kinahan and his sons Daniel and Christopher junior, are still believed to be based in the United Arab Emirates.
It emerged last month that gardaí have sent a file to the DPP recommending that the operational leader of the cartel, Daniel Kinahan, be charged with directing a criminal organisation.
The garda file also examined the evidence against the other leaders, but it is not clear it if recommends any charges against them.
But senior gardaí have repeatedly stressed that their investigation will not end until everyone in the cartel structure is brought to justice.
The Dubai Police are due to announce the visit this morning.
Officially, the visit is being described as means of “building relationships towards achieving common goals” in relation to transnational organised crime.
Central to the garda visit is discussing legal means of getting the three men deported from the country to Ireland to face justice, in particular Daniel Kinahan.
The delegation to Dubai follows a top-level meeting in Dublin between AC Kelly and the chiefs of the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau with officers from the US Drug Enforcement Agency, in relation to the joint US-Irish investigation into the cartel leadership.
The organisation behind the meeting has been arranged from the Irish embassy in Dubai and the Garda liaison officer who was only recently appointed there.
