Kinahan Cartel organised murder of dissident for Iranian regime, ex-DEA agent claims
Jack Kelly says the Kinahans were ‘flashing red’ to US officials.
Electrician Ali Motamed (56) was shot dead at point blank range by a gunman on his doorstep in the quiet Dutch town of Almere in December 2015.His clinical assassination initially baffled police as Mr Motamed had no known links to organised criminality or drugs trafficking.However, police ultimately discovered the unassuming electrician was an Iranian dissident who had been living under a fake name after fleeing to Europe in the 80s.His real name was Mohammad Reza Kolahi Sama and he was the chief suspect for planting a bomb which killed 73 people at the Islamic Republic Party headquarters in Tehran.Now, a former US Drug Enforcement Agency officer has claimed the murder of Motamed was directly arranged by the Kinahan Cartel who used their contacts in the Dutch criminal underworld to have him shot.The Irish mob have a long term alliance with a feared Dutch-Morrocan crime gang known as the 'Mocro Maffia'.The claim is made by Jack Kelly in the fourth episode of the BBC’s ‘Kinahan: The True Story of Ireland’s Mafia.’He says: "The way I heard it – the Kinahans were actually the ones who made the connection on behalf of Iran to provide the assassin."That dude who actually did the shooting was someone who was familiar with the Kinahans.”Kelly, who oversaw the DEA’s Hezbollah cases at the Special Operations Division, claims the US government became aware of the Kinahans during their investigations into the terror group.Kelly says: “So during the time the Kinahans weren’t just flashing red, they were flashing bright red – specifically Daniel Kinahan.Daniel Kinahan“Customs and Border protections said to me, ‘Jack, we don’t have to specifically target this guy Kinahan but you need to know he is working directly for these guys were are going after in Hezbollah’.”In 2008, the US government launched Project Cassandra after the DEA uncovered evidence that Hezbollah had embedded itself in the international drugs trade.The group were suspected of making up to $1 billion a year from drug and weapons trafficking and money laundering.It is believed Hezbollah use an ancient banking system called Hawala to launder the money for transnational crime gangs.DEA agent Jack KellyKelly claims the Kinahans developed ties to Iran came through Hezbollah who are funded by the regime."Sometimes groups like the Kinahans can become very helpful. It’s more like, ‘what can the Kinahans do for us?’"And that doesn’t always mean ‘let’s make money for crime’ but, really, the strategic level objectives of Iran which means killing people, Iranian dissidents, which the regime believes deserve to be assassinated.”Earlier this year, a Dutch Kinahan cartel associate was acquitted of Motamed’s murder on appeal and convicted of attempting to solicit the murder instead.Ali MotamedDutch criminal Naoufal Fassih had been arrested in connection with the murder at a Kinahan safehouse on Baggot Street in 2016.After his arrest in Dublin he was extradited to Holland where he was jailed for various offences including ordering gang hits and political assassinations.Fassih was a leading member of a Dutch gang along with Chilean trafficker Ricardo ‘El Rico’ Riquelme Vega who was jailed for 11 years recently and is the right-hand man of Ridouan Taghi.Fassih, Taghi and Vega had strong links to the Kinahan cartel and along with other criminal organisations were part of so-called ‘supercartel’ with the Irish gang.Fassih had been hiding out in Dublin with the assistance of the cartel as he was wanted in the Netherlands in relation to various offences including murder and ordering assassinations and sentenced to life.Fassih with Gardaí (Collins)However, his sentence was reduced to 25 years and four months in January after he was acquitted of the murder of an Iranian dissident on appeal.In 2019 he was jailed for life for the organising the December 2015 murder of Motamed.The Court of Appeal found while was evidence Fassih tried to solicit the murder there was not enough evidence to show he was involved in the actual murder.The court said acting as an “intermediary and conduit” is not enough to demand a life sentence. He was convicted on appeal of the crime of attempted solicitation of murder.Other convictions for money laundering and order another gun attack were upheld.In its ruling the court said Fassih "spoke with apparent ease and without any moral sense about this murder as a purely business matter, a nice gig”."The court considers that the defendant’s actions left no doubt about his ruthless and merciless attitude: a human life was worth nothing to him, the risk of more victims did not matter."
