WEARING designer dresses and getting hitched in extravagant ceremonies these glamorous women look like any other expats lapping up the Dubai sun.
The United Arab Emirates is a hot spot for celebs and packed full of five-star hotels and white sandy beaches. But it’s also become a haven for high-end criminals and their WAGs.
Criminal kingpins and their molls are all flocking to one destination Shutterstock
Dubai has become the glam new criminal kingpin hotspotGetty
Stephen ‘Jimmy’ Jamieson moved to Dubai with girlfriend Charlene BentleyCharlene Bentley/Facebook
But just like the partners of gangsters who escaped to the imfamous Costa del Crime in Spain in the 1980s, these law breakers have started a new life in Dubai.
Many of the criminals spreading misery in Britain and Ireland are relaxing with their wives and girlfriends in what they hope is the relative safety of the oil rich kingdom.
While ruthless rivals gun each other down in the streets back home, they are careful not to step out of line in authoritarian Dubai.
In the Islamic nation trafficking drugs is punishable by death and harsh penalties for minor offences means it has a very low crime rate.
Some of the gangsters’ molls have got respectable jobs in Dubai’s booming beauty industry – while one runs a multi-million dollar property empire.
Visited by half a million Brits every year and loved by celebrities such as David Beckham who had a villa there on Palm Jumeirah island, it is a home from home.
Experts consulted by The Sun say the principal reason for the transfer of British and Irish criminals from the Costas to Dubai is down to the fact they see it as a way of avoiding extradition.
One police chief we spoke to said: “British criminals know their chances of being extradited from Spain are far higher than from Dubai.
“Even where bilateral extradition agreements exist with the UAE, the practicalities can be challenging to say the least.
“Baddies go where they know they’re most likely to escape justice.”
A formal extradition treaty exists between the UAE and the UK, signed in 2006 and in force since 2008, but the reality is that extraditions have been few and far between over the years.
The UAE has no formal extradition treaty with the EU or the US.
Irish mobster Christy Kinahan Snr and his sons Daniel and Christopher relocated to Dubai after being released on bail following their high-profile May 2010 arrests on the Costa del Sol as part of Operation Shovel.
Underworld feud
When Daniel wed Caoimhe Robinson in 2017 the couple opted for a glitzy ceremony at the £1,000-a-night Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai.
The Kinahans continue to enjoy their Middle East life of luxury despite the signing of a bilateral extradition treaty between Dubai and Ireland, which became operational in May this year.
Caoimhe, from Coolock in the north of Dublin, is also the ex-girlfriend of gangster Micka ‘The Panda’ Kelly, who was linked to six murders and was shot dead by the Real IRA in 2011.
The Panda was gunned down as he left an apartment in north Dublin. His dead body was shot again before a car was driven over him.
The family’s relocation to Dubai was a savvy business move as Caoimhe has sold and let millions of pounds worth of property in Dubai despite international sanctions freezing her husband’s assets.
This allegedly includes a mansion that was rented out for £20,000-a-year before being sold for £4.3million, and a luxury villa with a swimming pool and a terrace overlooking a golf course that was sold last May for nearly £10million.
Months before she started selling her properties, the US unveiled sanctions against seven senior figures in the Kinahan cartel and a $5million (£4million) bounty for the arrest of Daniel, his father ‘The Dapper Don’, and brother Christopher Jr.
Caoimhe is not the target of any sanctions or arrest warrants and – unlike other members of the Kinahan family – is not a fugitive.
Daniel Kinahan is the son of Christy Kinahan Snr
Caoimhe Robinson is married to suspected mobster Daniel ‘Chess’ Kinaha
GettyCaoimhe was involved in the sale of luxury residential villas in the Dubai Hills[/caption]
ShutterstockDaniel Kinahan purchased an office in Jumeirah Bay Tower in 2017[/caption]
Scottish gang kingpin Ross ‘Miami’ McGill, 31, who is said to have ties with the Kinahans, has quit the Costa del Sol and moved to Dubai with his dental nurse partner Olivia Newell.
He is alleged to be behind an underworld feud which has torn through Glasgow and Edinburgh in recent months.
It has even spread to the Spanish Costas where two Scottish mobsters, Eddie Lyons Jr and Ross Monaghan, were gunned down outside a bar in May.
Baddies go where they know they’re most likely to escape justice
Police chief
It started after McGill was allegedly swindled out of £500,000 of cocaine by dealers who paid for the drugs with counterfeit cash.
Ross ‘Miami’ McGill, the former boss of the Rangers football hooligan group the Union Bears, and now gang kingpin
One of McGill’s lavish cars
It is claimed McGill put £100,000 bounties on the heads of the men he thinks are responsible.
McGill had not been considered a major gangland player until now. He was a former Rangers Ultra who had been pictured with Steven Gerrard and fled Scotland around four years ago.
In June this year the feud seems to have arrived back at the door of girlfriend Olivia’s family when her dad George had his black taxi firebombed outside the family home leaving it extensively damaged.
Olivia is also the cousin of a man called Lloyd Cross who last year was jailed for his part in a £100million cocaine-smuggling plot.
But there is absolutely nothing to suggest that Olivia or her parents are in any way involved in any illegal activities or are under suspicion from the police.
Spanish authorities say police pressure has also played its part in persuading many criminals previously based on the Costa del Sol, given southern Spain’s proximity to Morocco and its status as a key entry point for drugs, to transfer elsewhere.
A Spanish National Police officer whose past work has involved finding and apprehending British criminals on the run said: “Marbella is a nice place to live.
The UAE has long been considered a modern, safe, and protective jurisdiction for individuals involved in criminality
Radha Stirling, founder and CEO of Detained in Dubai
“Bad guys like the idea of being somewhere where they can spend their money in good restaurants and enjoy nine months of sunshine.
“But Dubai is an attractive destination for them too in terms of its infrastructure and leisure activities.
“If on top of that they know they’re far less likely to be put on a plane back home to a country where they’ll be sent to prison, then it’s clear why they’d want to go.”
But they still have foot soldiers in Spain to enable them to maintain a presence there and continue to operate in Britain and Ireland.
While the UAE has locked up Brits for seemingly innocuous offences such as kissing in the street, the authorities are known to turn a blind eye to how their wealthy residents come by their funds.
As long as they are splashing the cash it doesn’t matter.
Dubai has a reputation as a good place to launder money, so it is perfect for drug smugglers.
Radha Stirling, founder and CEO of Detained in Dubai, says that people with money and influence have often seen themselves as untouchable in Dubai.
She explains: “The UAE has long been considered a modern, safe, and protective jurisdiction for individuals involved in criminality. Money, status, and influence have often been sufficient to secure judicial protection from extradition, all while enjoying a luxurious lifestyle.
“Historically, the UAE has been reluctant to cooperate with foreign authorities unless there is clear political or diplomatic benefit. In turn, most Western countries have also refrained from extraditing to the Emirates, which has created an attractive environment for those seeking refuge.”
£500k wedding
One couple enjoying the delights of Dubai are Charlene Bentley and Stephen ‘Jimmy’ Jamieson.
Psychiatric nurse Charlene, 40, has always stood by her man – even when he was jailed for eight years for flooding Glasgow with cocaine.
And her loyalty was rewarded in 2020 when they are believed to have wed in a lavish Dubai ceremony rumoured to have cost a staggering £500,000.
The couple share two kids and are believed to have been together for more than 15 years. Their glitzy wedding was billed as a ‘who’s who’ of the Scottish criminal underworld.
Jamieson fled to the Gulf state five years ago and allegedly took over the empire of cartel boss Jamie ‘Iceman’ Stevenson, 60, jailed for a £100million plot to smuggle cocaine to Glasgow from South America in a box of bananas.
Stephen ‘Jimmy’ Jamieson, left, was the former right-hand man of caged cocaine kingpin Jamie ‘Iceman’ Stevenson
Charlene enjoys a life of luxury in the city
Jamieson boasts about his lifestyle in posts
Steven Lyons is the son of former boss Eddie Lyons SnrAndrew Barr – The Sun Glasgow
Exiled crime boss Steven Lyons is believed to have spent a fortune on Botox and fillers to dramatically change his appearance.
The first pictures of him in a decade emerged last month at an event in Dubai last Christmas.
Lyons, 44, fled Scotland in 2006 after being shot twice.
Eyebrows were raised when Steven didn’t even return to Scotland for the funeral of his brother Eddie Lyons Jnr and best pal Ross Monaghan.
Instead he chose to watch from the Middle East via video link.
Drug ‘daddy’
The daddy of the Dubai criminals is Christy Kinahan Snr, who lives there with Turkish/Dutch businesswoman Nesilihan Yildrim.
The Godfather of the Kinahan gang had apparently planned to marry and settle in Harare, Zimbabwe, with Yildrim with their three children but chose the UAE instead.
Little has been known about Yildirim until she was named as being part of a failed multi-million dollar plan by the cartel to buy Egyptian air force planes in order to smuggle drugs.
But there are signs that the gangsters are finally beginning to feel the heat in Dubai.
Drug lord Christopher Kinahan Sr. attempted to buy Egyptian military planes to find a secure base near African drug routes
Neslihan Yildirim, partner of Christy Kinahan Snr, is a Turkish/Dutch businesswoman
Jamieson, 42, was arrested in Dubai in June after five years on the run and will be extradited to Scotland over a raft of allegations linked to serious organised crime.
Underworld sources said the drug dealer had decided not to fight his extradition to Scotland as he is fed-up with the Dubai lifestyle and misses his friends and family.
There is no suggestion that Charlene is involved in any criminality and it remains to be seen whether she and their children will stay in the Dubai sunshine.
Staying put
Already back from a sojourn in the sun is Sean McGovern, 39, who was sent back to Ireland in May to face a murder and gangland charges.
One of Kinehan’s senior lieutenants, he is the first person to be extradited from the UAE to Ireland.
His partner Anita Freeman, who has two children with McGovern, has stayed behind in Dubai.
Anita has been with mobster McGovern since the pair were teenagers in Dublin.
The pair fled to Dubai in 2017 just months after the murder of Noel ‘Duck Egg’ Kirwan.
The couple’s extensively renovated Irish home was later seized by the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) and sold on to Dublin City Council.
There is no suggestion that she has any involvement in her partner’s alleged crimes, or any previous criminal convictions, so on that basis she should be able to arrange video link calls with him in prison.
Radha concludes: “The arrests of Sean McGovern and Stephen Jamieson will concern others who may be at risk, but some higher-profile figures appear untouched.
“The UAE has a history of arbitrary law enforcement. Some remain protected, while others have been secretly removed without any due process.”
Sean McGovern was extradited from Dubai in May and is facing charges of murder and directing a crime gangCrispin Rodwell – The Sun Dublin
Anita Freeman has been with mobster McGovern since the pair were teenagers in Dublin
Left to right, gang boss Liam Byrne with wife Simoan McEnroe, Anita Freeman with partner Sean McGovern