'Hundreds of gangs running organised crime'

More than 230 gangs are now running Northern Ireland’s billion pound organised crime industry, a new report revealed today.

Even though 60 top-level outfits were smashed or disrupted in the past year, dangerous new 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.

Massive levels of drug smuggling, counterfeiting, and extortion were uncovered in the Organised Crime Task Force’s latest threat assessment.

The authorities identified 150 local gangs whose rackets are confined to the North.

But more seriously, another 85 tightly-run units turning over huge profits have established international links and recruited specialists to protect their illegitimate businesses.

The numbers represent a huge increase from previous years, but experts insisted this was down to advancements in collecting and analysing intelligence.

Northern Ireland Security Minister Ian Pearson, who heads the multi-agency OCTF, vowed to go on the offensive in a bid to wreck the organisations.

He said: “We are aware of the challenges we face in the year ahead and we will continue to concentrate our efforts on putting the criminals out of business.”

The dossier includes evidence of counterfeiting links with Turkey and Thailand as part of a trade worth £152m (€224.5m) annually.

These so-called intellectual property crimes show the lengths the gangs will go to.

Car brake-shoes were discovered made from compressed and painted grass. Meanwhile tests on fake perfumes found urine had been added.

A cannabis route stretching to South Africa was also discovered, along with illegal cigarettes coming in from China, and fake currency flooding in from all over Europe.

Links with Chinese criminals involved in a people-smuggling enterprise were detected as well.

The IRA is blamed for being heavily connected to a five million litre a year fuel laundering enterprise that helps fund the terror group.

The Provisionals have also run large tobacco, alcohol and VAT fraud scams in an assessment that backed the Independent Monitoring Commission’s scathing appraisal of republican crime.

Loyalists were also up to their necks in crime, the report stressed, with 70% of extortions last year – sometimes involving hundreds of thousands of pounds - attributed to them.

The UDA, Northern Ireland’s biggest loyalist organisation, has also been dealing in drugs, armed robberies and prostitution.

Along with the 60 gangs hit and 193 men and women arrested, other major successes were recorded for last year.

These included:

:: the seizure of £7.6m (€11.4m) of counterfeit goods

:: confiscation of drugs worth £12.5m (€18.7m) on the street, leading to 1,500 arrests

:: 38% reduction in cash-in-transit robberies

:: the seizure of 1.2 billion cigarettes in the UK and 641 million en route

A new list of strategic priorities has been developed for the next 12 months by the British government, police chiefs, Customs and Inland Revenue officials who make up the taskforce.

These include cutting extortion levels, moves to cut the supply of illegal drugs, reduce tax losses from illegal fuel, cigarettes and booze, and targeting money launderers and counterfeiters.

With the report identifying big levels of terrorist involvement, Mr Pearson demanded an end to the operations.

Listing the enterprises they have been involved in, the minister insisted: “This is unacceptable. It is time for all paramilitary groups to cease all of their activities.”