230 gangs run North’s crime industry

MORE than 230 gangs are now running Northern Ireland’s billion euro organised crime industry, according to a report.

Even though 60 top-level outfits were smashed or disrupted in the past year, dangerous groups with global links have moved in to plug the gap.

Loyalist and republican terrorists are heavily involved in sophisticated illegal operations stretching from North America to the Far East, the British Government assessment confirmed.