The return of Daniel Kinahan (49) to Ireland on Sunday was a red-letter day for law enforcement in the Republic. Even Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan saw fit to make statements as the extradition of Kinahan, on the Government jet from Dubai to Dublin, was under way.While nothing has been proven against him, Kinahan has been out of circulation, locked up in Dubai, since his arrest there in mid-April on foot of an extradition warrant request from the Irish authorities.Even if he was acquitted of the charge he now faces in Ireland, it will be at least a year before he is freed. If convicted, he faces a sentence of up to life imprisonment.His detention for the last four months, and for the foreseeable future, gives rise to questions about those around him. In particular, his wife and children, his father and brother and his associates still in Dubai.The Government jet carrying Daniel Kinahan comes in to land at Casement Aerodrome in Baldonnel on Sunday. Photograph: Colin Keegan, Collins Setting aside the offence he is accused of – directing organised crime – for a moment, this is a man who forced his way into a leading global position, as a promoter, in the cut-throat and lucrative world of professional boxing.Now that he is locked up, with his dominant place in the lives of those around him suspended, what happens next?The trial processThe detectives from the Garda Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau (DOCB) who have investigated Kinahan know there is a long journey ahead if he is to be convicted of his alleged role in directing organised crime.The Special Criminal Court, where he will be tried, is the same court that acquitted Gerry ‘The Monk’ Hutch three years ago of the murder of David Byrne in the Hutch gang Regency Hotel attack in Dublin.Kinahan was the target that day just over a decade ago. Byrne became the collateral damage when the group attack, by five armed men, went wrong.When Hutch went to trial, after he too was extradited, from Spain, the evidence was simply not good enough to convict him, leading to his acquittal. That outcome will be repeated unless the prosecution of Kinahan by the Garda and Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) is strong.[ From Dublin’s Oliver Bond flats to Dubai: The life of Daniel KinahanOpens in new window ]The Garda file on Kinahan that has now led to him being charged with directing organised crime between October 2015 and April 2017 first went to the DPP in 2022, as first reported in The Irish Times.It took several years for the DPP’s office to review all of the contents and to liaise with gardaí about how it could be improved; for further evidence to be gathered, clarified or refined to satisfy the DPP there was enough to ground a prosecution.Garda vehicles leaving the Criminal Courts of Justice in Dublin, where Daniel Kinahan has been remanded in custody charged with directing an organised crime group, after being extradited from Dubai. Photograph: Brian Lawless/PA Wire As Kinahan sits in his cell in Portlaoise Prison on remand – locked in on his own for about 20 hours a day – and passes his minimal free time in the exercise yard and a small gym, the DOCB and DPP will be preparing their case. They will be coming up with their strategy for running their prosecution.Some investigating will also continue. Further evidence will be sought to corroborate and strengthen what is already in the file. Any new lines of inquiry will be fully exploited. The investigation does not rest just because a suspect has been charged.Wife and childrenKinahan, who grew up in the Oliver Bond flats in Dublin’s south inner city, left Ireland 25 years ago, first for Spain. He then permanently relocated to Dubai after the Hutch gang tried to kill him in Dublin at the Regency in February 2016.For all his time in Dubai, he has lived openly there with his wife, Caoimhe Robinson, from Darndale, north Dublin. Her former partner, Micka ‘The Panda’ Kelly, was shot dead in Dublin by the Real IRA in 2011.Kinahan has at least five children, though the full extent of his family is not known despite the vast research and news media coverage of him and his associates for over two decades. Nobody knew, for example, that his father, Christy Kinahan snr (69), had two very young children until The Irish Times reported in 2022 he had been trying to relocate his family to Zimbabwe.For now, Daniel Kinahan’s wife and children – adults and minors – have opted to stay on in Dubai. Robinson has invested in a number of properties there and there is no suggestion that she or any of the couple’s children have any involvement in crime.Because of their connections to Kinahan, and especially if he is convicted, any effort by his family members to move back to Ireland, and even make the basic investment of buying a house, would involve risk.At present, any assets Kinahan has appear to be offshore. He has also been tax domiciled in Spain and Dubai for the past 25 years, meaning the tax authorities and Criminal Assets Bureau (Cab) have no jurisdiction over his finances.If any effort was made to repatriate even a modest portion of those assets – perhaps as part of the process of some of his family moving back to Ireland – it would not go unnoticed.Gardaí accept his wife and children are not involved in crime. But Cab, in particular, would be very interested to examine the source of any money or assets they suspect really belong to Kinahan.Cab has already seized and sold a property he part-owned. They were able to do that even though Kinahan was tax domiciled offshore because the house was located in the Republic. The large property in Saggart, Dublin, was seized in 2022 and sold two years ago at auction for €930,000.Father and brotherIn April 2022, the US treasury department imposed financial and travel sanctions on seven men at the head of the Kinahan organisation. Christy Kinahan snr and his sons, Daniel and Christopher jnr (45), were among the seven.The Irish Times has established the three Kinahans did not leave the United Arab Emirates (UAE) after they were sanctioned. Gardaí concluded the Kinahans were too fearful of arrest, at the behest of the Americans, in any other country they might travel to. It was also believed the Kinahans were afraid of being blocked from re-entering UAE if they were to leave.Daniel Kinahan’s extradition to Ireland on Sunday has relieved him of those fears. However, his father and brother remain trapped in the UAE, specifically Dubai. They can be deported at any time of the UAE’s choosing.Christy Kinahan snr leaving a Belgian court in 2009. Today, he remains in Dubai. Photograph: Sunday World Adding Christopher jnr to the sanctions list in 2022, the US said he “regularly contributes to a fund” used to pay members of the Kinahan organisation. He also “collaborated with other members” of the crime group to “transport and sell narcotics in the United Kingdom”.At the time the sanctions were imposed, the US said Christy Kinahan snr had “served prison sentences in Ireland, the Netherlands and Belgium, including: six years for dealing heroin, 2½ years for possession of cocaine and four years for money laundering”.The US treasury department said he had built a list of contacts that gradually grew into what is now known as the Kinahan organised crime group, which trafficked drugs.Ian Dixon (36), a cousin of the Kinahans and based in Dubai with them, was also sanctioned at the time. He was described as a key figure who “keeps track of money owed by a narcotics trafficker” and in moving the group’s money.Though the three men – Kinahan snr, Kinahan jnr and Dixon – are now facing added scrutiny, to the extent the two Kinahans are afraid to leave Dubai, gardaí believe they remain centrally involved in the group’s business there. They do not expect that to change unless the men are arrested and charged.However, the Garda file that went to the DPP in 2022, giving rise to the charge now levelled against Daniel Kinahan, also contained information about Christy Kinahan snr and Christopher jnr as they were the targets in the same investigation.Though Daniel has now been charged, his father and brother currently face no criminal charges in Ireland, or anywhere else, meaning their extradition is not being sought.However, gardaí privately insist investigations are ongoing into the entire Kinahan group structure in Dubai, especially as its Irish operation was wiped out after so many of its members were jailed, mostly for Kinahan-Hutch feud crimes.As that investigation continues, gardaí say their relations with UAE law enforcement is better than ever, as evidenced by the arrest and swift extradition of Daniel Kinahan.