A suspected leading member of the Kinahan organised crime group, branded 'one of the biggest targets' for the Criminal Assets Bureau, is likely to go on trial in the UK next year.
The 42-year-old from Crumlin in Dublin was extradited from to the UK from Spain on Tuesday, charged with firearms offences.
He appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court in London yesterday and was remanded into custody to appear again next month.
His brother David Byrne was shot dead in the Regency Hotel in February 2016.
The Irish Times Security and Crime Editor Conor Lally told The Pat Kenny Show that Liam Byrne has been in the sights of authorities for a long time.
"Liam Byrne has essentially been one of the biggest targets for the Criminal Assets Bureau in Ireland over the last few years," he said.
"His house was seized about four or five years ago.
He headed a crime group called the Byrne Organised Crime Group and effectively it was the Irish wing of the Kinahan cartel.
"It essentially took in the container loads of drugs that were brought into the country by the Kinahan cartel from abroad.
"It basically farmed them out to drug gangs all over the country and collected the cash".
The house seized by the Criminal Assets Bureau in Crumlin from senior Kinahan associate Liam Byrne, 28/05/2021. Image: Sasko Lazarov / RollingNews.ieMr Lally said it has been a long road for Liam Byrne.
"The Criminal Assets Bureau inquiry into Liam Byrne would have really ramped up after the Regency Hotel attack," he said.
"He had left the country after about a year or two... and he settled in the UK.
"He went over to his brother-in-law there, guy called Thomas 'Bomber Kavanagh', who essentially ran the Kinahan cartel organisation in Britain.
"It's alleged that [Liam Byrne] continued working as a gang leader there.
"He really came under the investigation form the authorities in Great Britain very soon after he arrived".
Extradition from Spain
Mr Lally said Liam Byrne then fled to Dubai, before heading to Spain for a holiday.
"In early June he travelled from Dubai to Majorca for a family holiday and he was basically spotted there," he said.
"He was arrested on foot of an extradition warrant to the UK, he was detained in Majorca by the Spanish authorities and he was extradited on Tuesday".
Mr Lally said Liam Byrne will be held in prison until his next court appearance on January 8th next.
"The authorities in Great Britain allege that he was one of the key figures in an organised crime gang in Britain that was sourcing forearms and selling those guns to other crime gangs," he said.
"There's several other people charged at the same time as his with the same types of offenses.
"They're quite serious charges and because he's been extradited from Spain to Britain he will go on trial there," he added.
Mr Lally said the trial will likely begin next year.
