The State Department on Tuesday announced rewards of up to $5 million for information leading to the arrests of three Irishmen accused of dealing drugs internationally.
Christopher Vincent Kinahan and his two sons, Daniel Joseph Kinahan and Christopher Kinahan Jr., have been accused of participating in, or conspiring to participate in, "transnational organized crime," the department said in a statement.
The three men allegedly distributed South American cocaine and heroin in Ireland, before expanding their narcotics trafficking organization to include the United Kingdom and then mainland Europe.
The Kinahans also have engaged in money laundering, firearms trafficking, and murder, the State Department said.
The reward money is being offered by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in conjunction with the An Garda Síochana in Ireland and the National Crime Agency in the United Kingdom.
The U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has sanctioned seven senior members of the Kinahan organized crime group, the Irish Examiner reported.
The sanctions mean the Kinahan gang has been deemed a threat to U.S. national security, the Examiner said.
The Tresury office describes the Kinahan gang, which emerged in the late 1990s and early 2000s, as the "most powerful organized crime group operating in Ireland."
Christopher Sr. and Daniel Kinahan both are said to be based in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, the Examiner reported.
The Treasury's report said Christopher Sr. had registered a number of companies under aliases or using abbreviations of his name.
The sanctions mean that the gang and its associated businesses in the U.K., the UAE and elsewhere cannot do business with U.S. banks and financial institutions.
"As a result of today's action, all property and interests in property of the designated individuals or entities that are in the United States or in the possession or control of US persons must be blocked and reported to OFAC," The Treasury said in a statement.
"OFAC's regulations generally prohibit all transactions by US persons or persons within (or transiting) the United States that involve any property or interests in property of designated or otherwise blocked persons."
The State Department's Transnational Organized Crime Rewards Program has worked to bring more than 75 transnational criminals to face charges over its history since it was initiated in 1986 and has paid out more than $175 million in rewards for information that leads to arrests.
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