Kinahan cartel associate Thomas Kavanagh pleads guilty to firearms charges in the UK on eve of trial [Video]

A BOSS OF THE Kinahan organised crime group and two of his key members have admitted a ruse to create an arms cache to help him secure a lighter prison sentence.

Thomas ‘Bomber’ Kavanagh, 57, was said by the UK National Crime Agency to be a high-ranking member of the Irish network involved in drugs supply, firearms and money laundering, and acted as the figurehead of the organisation in the UK.

He lived with his family in a fortified mansion, complete with reinforced doors and bulletproof glass, in Tamworth, Staffordshire, from where he ran his criminal empire, the NCA has said.

In 2020 he had been in custody facing a lengthy jail term for trafficking cocaine and cannabis into the UK.

He hatched a plot to fool the NCA and secure a reduced sentence by pretending to help them uncover an illicit stash of weapons.

He enlisted others, including his …