A GANG MEMBER of the notorious Kinahan crime group has been ordered to pay thousands following a Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) investigation led by the National Crime Agency.
Gary Vickery, of Boundary Road, Solihull, and has been ordered to pay back £109,312.90 within three months or face another two years in prison.
The 43-year-old was arrested in October 2017 after NCA officers seized 15kilos of cocaine and more than 220kilos of cannabis which was found inside a six-tonne industrial tarmac removal machine in Dover.
He was tried alongside the UK head of the organisation, Thomas Kavanagh, from Tamworth who has been ordered to pay more than £1.1million in three months, or face another 12 years in prison.
He was jailed for 21 years in March 2022 for orchestrating the importation of multi-million-pound drug shipments worth around £30million at UK street value. He also admitted being involved in the illegal trafficking of firearms and money laundering.
Subsequent investigations showed Kavanagh was heading up the criminal enterprise, and he was arrested at Birmingham airport as he returned from holiday in January 2019.
Following his sentencing, NCA investigators began looking into the gang’s finances and assets for seizure under the Proceeds of Crime Act.
Officers estimated that Kavanagh’s criminal profits were in the region £12.2m, but recoverable assets amounted to £1,123,096.84.
Adrian Foster, Chief Crown Prosecutor, said: “Thomas Kavanagh and Gary Vickery are dangerous criminals in the organised gang world, importing millions of pounds worth of dangerous drugs on an industrial scale to the UK.
“This successful £1million confiscation order demonstrates the prosecution team’s commitment to work across borders to strip organised criminals of their illegal gains.”