A former Dublin airport police officer who laundered millions of pounds for organised crime groups by smuggling cash out of the country on flights has been extradited to Northern Ireland to serve his prison sentence.

Mark Adams, 44, from Malahide, was convicted following a National Crime Agency investigation in 2018 after being stopped by Border Force officers as he was about to board a flight to Alicante from Belfast International Airport.

He was discovered to be travelling with more than 180,000 euros which had been disguised in folders made to appear as if they contained legally privileged documents.

Adams initially claimed he was travelling to attend a wedding but NCA investigators found that he was booked onto a return flight just an hour and 20 minutes after he was due to arrive in Spain.

Further enquiries found that Adams, who had left his job in February 2017 after taking a two-year career break, had taken almost 500 flights into or out of the UK in the preceding five years, often returning very shortly after he landed.

Adams was initially released on bail as part of the NCA investigation but when he failed to return, a European Arrest Warrant was issued for him.

Issuing the warrant revealed that he had been arrested in the interim by the Irish authorities and charged with four counts of money laundering. He was sentenced to five years in prison in Ireland and began serving his sentence there.

During this time, Adams was charged in Northern Ireland in relation to the Belfast airport incident. He pleaded guilty to money laundering and was sentenced to 20 months in prison in May 2022.

Following the end of his sentence in Ireland, Adams was extradited to Northern Ireland today (31 July) to begin his sentence here.

NCA Branch Commander David Cunningham said:

“Mark Adams was committing his crimes across international borders but by working together with our law enforcement partners we were able to ensure he faced justice in both jurisdictions.

“The NCA works internationally to protect the public from serious and organised crime and we will continue to work with all of our partners to ensure criminals are brought to justice.”