Former policeman at centre of North drugs probe

A SUSPECTED drugs baron at the centre of a major probe in the North is a former police officer.

Colin Armstrong, 38, owns nearly 50 properties worth an estimated £5 million (€7m).

His bank accounts on both sides of the Border have been frozen as part of the inquiry which followed an 18-month undercover investigation by the Assets Recovery Agency.

Armstrong, who lives with his partner at a luxurious house at Glenavy, Co Antrim, once served as a full-time reservist with the Royal Ulster Constabulary. He was stationed in Co Armagh at one time, it has been claimed.

Investigations into his financial affairs are going back more than a decade, after it was alleged by the agency that he imported illegal drugs from Belgium into Northern Ireland in 1994, when he had links with the loyalist paramilitary Ulster Volunteer Force in mid-Ulster where nearly all his properties are based.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland confirmed: “He was a full-time reserve officer who left in August 1991.”

However, it is understood his resignation following disciplinary action was not as a result of any criminal activity.

Although questioned several times by drugs squad officers investigating the distribution of drugs to clubs in north Down and on the north coast, Mr Armstrong has never been charged.

He is now under investigation by an interim receiver, who now has control of all the properties.