Leitrim raid linked to international money laundering ring
A raid on a property in Leitrim last week is linked to a a billion-dollar money-laundering network that went so far as to purchase a bank in Kyrgyzstan to evade sanctions and channel funds supporting Russia’s military operations.
An international investigation involving the Gardaí, the UK National Crime Agency (NCA) and multiple European and US law enforcement partners has uncovered a network which laundered money for major drug traffickers, including the Kinahan Organised Crime Group.
As part of the Irish component of the inquiry, Gardaí working closely with the NCA have recovered almost €2 million in cash between 2023 and 2025, €1.36 million of which was seized this year.
Investigators say the Irish cell was a significant logistical arm of the wider network, and recent Garda operations have increasingly focused on activity centred in north Dublin and Leitrim.
Operation Destabilise was established to dismantle the network, and hat focus intensified on 14 Otctober, when the Garda Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau (GDOCB) carried out coordinated searches at four residential properties across north Dublin and neighbouring Leitrim.
Officers seized €383,000 in cash and arrested two men and two women, all in their 30s. Senior sources say this operation disrupted an active cash-collection route servicing the laundering system and targeted what they believe were key facilitators responsible for moving high-value currency through both regions.
The October raids followed earlier major seizures in Dublin this year.
On 9 April, GDOCB and Revenue Customs intercepted two suspected couriers at Dublin Airport and seized €342,000 in cash.
Two weeks later, on 23 April, GDOCB officers stopped a vehicle in west Dublin, recovering €638,000 and arresting a man in his 30s.
In total, seven people have now been arrested and charged in Ireland and are before the courts.
An eighth individual, Russian courier Igor Logvinov, was jailed for three years in July 2023, and €57,200 in drug-related proceeds was forfeited to the State.