NI criminal assets investigators in £8m probe

A collection of art and a luxury yacht have been examined as part of a developing offensive against multi-million pound racketeering in Northern Ireland, it emerged today.

The paintings and boat are believed to have been owned by loyalist terrorists and criminals suspected of involvement in drug dealing and money laundering.

It is believed the yacht, worth more than £100,000 (€149,000), was once moored in Co Antrim but has since been sold on.

Investigators from the Assets Recovery Agency were alerted to the 20ft cruiser during an ongoing probe into 19 cases worth a total of £8m (€12m).

Dossiers have been prepared in a bid to either take control of the suspects’ illegal wealth or else slap huge tax bills on them within weeks.

The agency’s Northern Ireland chief Alan McQuillan has scrutinised bank accounts and property across Europe as he prepares to go to the courts within weeks.

Mr McQuillan has just frozen more than half a million pounds during two operations against alleged cross-border fuel smuggling and drug trafficking linked to loyalist terrorists in east Belfast.

More than half of all cases taken on by the agency since it started involve loyalist and republican terrorists. Another 25% relate to organised criminals with links to the paramilitaries.

Most of the action against republicans involves big smuggling operations, while loyalist criminality is more widespread but on a smaller scale.

Although Mr McQuillan and his team’s performance has come under intense scrutiny, he insisted he would comfortably meet his targets.

He accepted the public want to see a crackdown on the most notorious terror bosses’ massive earning powers, but called for patience.

“The bigger they are the longer the investigation takes because of the number of layers we have to unravel,” he said.

“Our primary objective is to reduce crime by taking out the financial structures of the organisations.”