North agency freezes assets of suspected drug dealer

The North's Assets Recovery Agency has secured High Court orders to freeze £460,000 (€664,000) worth of assets belonging to a suspected drug dealer.

The assets include a newly built five-bedroom house, an equestrian exercise arena, 10 acres of land, a Nissan jeep, a horsebox and 15 horses.

Even though the bulk of the property was bought and held in his mother-in-law's name, the ARA, the North's equivalent of the Criminal Assets Bureau, argued that Patrick Fleming had paid for it through an illegal narcotics trade.

Last month, a country home belonging to murdered loyalist paramilitary Jim Johnson that was seized by the ARA was sold at auction for £410,000 (€592,000).