First pic of ‘key gang member’ & MMA fighter jailed over cocaine smuggling op

THIS is the first image of the MMA fighter who has been locked up for his role in a global cocaine ­smuggling operation.

And our exclusive pic shows the €228,300 David McLoughlin, 31, stuffed inside a mattress at his plush pad in north Dublin.

The cash was recovered by cops after they identified the cage fighter as a key associate of Kinahan cartel-backed drug ­trafficker Francis Fennell, 34.

McLoughlin — who described himself as the No1 ranked Irish super welterweight — was one of a number of individuals targeted after Gardai suspected they were part of the Fennell Transnational Organised Crime Group.

Although Fennell’s gang were sending couriers to Australia and New Zealand to sell cocaine, ­officers believe McLoughin was selling cocaine and ecstasy for the mob in Ireland.

And they established how he was one of a number of people who received Western Union transfers from Oz once drugs were sold by other members.

But his involvement in the gang is now over after he received a seven-year sentence, with two suspended, for drug trafficking last month.

A charge of money laundering was also taken into consideration.

He is also the last member of Fennell’s gang to be caged.

One investigator told us: “McLoughlin was a key member of this transnational criminal gang and was trusted by Fennell.

“He lived a very lavish lifestyle and spent his money on foreign trips and designer clothes.

“McLoughlin was trusted to receive the cash from Australia and had a long-standing ­relationship with Fennell.

“He was big into MMA but his real interest was drug trafficking.”

Once identified in 2018, Garda National Drugs and ­Organised Crime Bureau members swooped on McLoughlin’s penthouse and recovered the cash from his ­mattress.

Officers also froze €25,000 in a bank account and established how €90,000 had passed through another account.

As the investigation continued over the following months, cops hit McLoughlin a second time in 2019 and recovered €336,030 ecstasy pills, €220,332 worth of MDMA, €31,964 of cocaine and €396 worth of zopiclone tablets.

‘PLANNING ON MAKING CRYSTAL METH’

The drugs were stashed in bags in a car in an underground car park located opposite his flat.

During their operation, officers also discovered he was planning on producing his own drugs after they found a crystal meth recipe.

The investigator added: “He had his own side business away from the Fennell operation and had built up his own customers.

“His customers were from all sorts of backgrounds and the only thing that mattered to him was making money.

“He was caught with a lot of drugs but it was also clear that he was planning on making crystal meth so he could make more money.”

Following the dismantling of Fennell’s gang, Det Chief Supt Seamus Boland declared: “An Garda Siochana is committed to the identification and dismantling of global drug trafficking networks involving Irish citizens.”