The son of Thomas ‘Bomber’ Kavanagh has also said he will fight the UK bid to extradite him from Spain like Kinahan Cartel gangster Liam Byrne.
Byrne, 42, told a judge he had decided to oppose his forced return to Britain in a court hearing on Monday following his arrest on an international arrest warrant the previous evening at a restaurant in Majorca.
Officials confirmed Jack Kavanagh had adopted the same tactic at an earlier hearing following his May 30th arrest on the Costa del Sol.
Britain’s National Crime Agency revealed on Monday Kavanagh, 22, had been held at Malaga Airport while transiting from Dubai to Turkey.
They said he and Byrne, held while having dinner with his two youngest children at an unnamed eatery in the resort of Alcudia in north-east Majorca, had been arrested in relation to serious firearms offences.
Both men were sent to prison after making it clear they did not agree to Britain’s extradition requests in separate hearings before a judge at Spain’s Audiencia Nacional court.
The centralised court, which deals with all extradition proceedings, is based in Madrid but can arrange for hearings to take place by videoconference where arrests on international warrants have taken place elsewhere in Spain. Such hearings always take place in private.
The men’s decision to fight extradition means separate hearings will now take place where their defence lawyer will put forward reasons why they should not be made to return to the UK.
It is expected to delay any extradition by several weeks if not months. No date for the hearings, which would take place separately, has yet been set.
Kay Mellor, Regional Head of Investigations at the NCA, confirmed Kavanagh had been held on an international arrest warrant issued in relation to “serious firearms offences” following his detention.
She said he and Crumlin mobster Byrne, believed to be facing up to 20 years behind bars if convicted at a UK trial, had been “evading justice for a number of years.”
Jack’s father Thomas was a key figure in the Kinahan Cartel until his recent conviction for drugs and money-laundering offences resulted in him getting a 21-year jail sentence. Byrne is said to have taken over from Bomber Kavanagh.
He left his Dubai bolthole and jetted to Majorca with his family on May 26th.
He is thought to have entered the island on a false passport, although Spanish police found no documentation on him when they arrested him.
The NCA revealed Jack Kavanagh had been held days earlier only when it confirmed Liam Byrne was in custody.
It said in a statement: “Two men wanted by the National Crime Agency on suspicion of firearms offences have been arrested in Spain.
“Liam Byrne, 42, from Dublin, who is thought to be one of the most trusted members of the Kinahan organised crime group, was arrested on Sunday evening in the Alcudia area of Mallorca while eating in a restaurant with family members.
“He had flown into Palma Airport from Dubai, UAE, on the 26 May. “Another suspected member of the crime group, Jack Kavanagh, 22, from Tamworth, Staffordshire, was arrested by officers from the Spanish National Police on Tuesday May 30th at Malaga Airport while transiting from Dubai to Turkey.”
