‘Dapper Don’ Christy Kinahan's pal and son-in-law arrested in Lebanon on cocaine charges

Kok (60) and his 41-year-old son-in-law were both arrested at the request of the Dutch authorities, following an extensive investigation which analysed crypto communications.

His relative is a suspected member of gangster Ridoun Taghi’s criminal network.

Taghi is himself a named member of a so-called international “super cartel” of which mobster Daniel Kinahan is alleged to be a part of.

Kok is suspected of involvement in drug smuggling, according to the Dutch Prosecution Service. His arrest in Lebanon is in connection with a massive consignment of cocaine that was intercepted in the port of Antwerp in 2021.

The Prosecution Service stated that two men are suspected of involvement in shipping hundreds of kilos of cocaine to the Netherlands.

Kok is thought to be involved in smuggling the 370 kilos of cocaine which arrived in Europe hidden among a shipment of bananas in Antwerp in 2020, and was later seized in a German supermarket.

He was a key figure in the Amsterdam underworld in the 1990s and played a prominent role in the trade in hashish, cocaine and weapons at that time.

He has served several jail sentences for trading in drugs and weapons and spent time in a Lebanese jail for drug dealing before being released in 2016.

The Dutch Public Prosecution Service has now issued an extradition request to Lebanon.

According to Dutch media, the arrest of Mink Kok and his son-in-law fits in with a strategy of the National Police Unit that is focused on breaking criminal power structures.

This approach, in which the National Unit works closely with the National Public Prosecutor's Office, was stepped up after the violent death of the well-known crime journalist Peter De Vries in July of 2021.

Taghi, who is facing accusations relating to six gangland murders in the Netherlands as well as drugs trafficking charges, is the alleged leader of the notorious Mocro Maffia.

Dutch media claim Taghi was behind the murder of De Vries who had been advising and acting as a confidant for a witness in a case against Taghi, when he was gunned down in Amsterdam.

Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) documents sent to Dutch police identified Raffialie Imperiale, Taghi, Bosnian criminal Edin Gačanin, Richard 'El Rico' Riquelme Vega and Daniel Kinahan as the heads of the so-called ‘super drug cartel'.

According to the DEA, Imperiale, Taghi and Edin Gačanin also attended Kinahan’s wedding at the plush Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai in 2017.