BIDEN BUS 'BREACH'

Ex-cop passed garda vetting despite links to cartel’s Browning

- JOHN HAND

THE stepfather of the Kinahan cartel’s top man in Ireland drove a bus in US President Joe Biden’s cavalcade on his four-day visit here, the Irish Mirror can reveal. 

Gardai are now examining a potential security breach after ex-detective David O’Brien, who is married to the mother of gangster Ross Browning and who was mentioned in a recent CAB High Court case, passed vetting for the job.

We understand that O’Brien drove dignitaries around in a bus for some of the time Biden was in the country earlier this month.

O’Brien, nicknamed “Rocky”, was working for a private bus company.

He was previously a detective garda, attached to the Serious Crime Review team for a time.

He wed Browning’s mother Julie Conway in 2020.

Due to his family links to career criminal Browning, sources raised concerns as to how he was vetted to drive a vehicle in Biden’s cavalcade.

There were strict security measures in place, with each civilian vetted by authorities ahead of Biden’s arrival. A source said: “It is a matter of concern. The fact is this individual was not properly vetted.

“This man is married to the mother of a man who is a major criminal and a senior ranking member of one of the world’s largest drugs and arms cartels.

“So the gardai will have to examine how this was allowed to happen.”