Police hold 13 in loyalist crime raids

Detectives investigating loyalist criminality today arrested 13 people during a series of searches across Northern Ireland.

Nine men and four women were detained following raids by the Organised Crime Task Force on more than 30 properties in Counties Antrim, Armagh and Tyrone.

Officers investigating the 1997 loyalist murder of a GAA official also took part in the operation.

Sean Brown, 61, was shot dead by the Loyalist Volunteer Force who seized him as he locked up the gates of a Gaelic football club in Bellaghy, Co Derry.

Police said no arrests were made in connection with the case during today’s searches, when a number of unrelated items were seized.

A firearm, a small quantity of ammnition, a substantial quantity of cash, £100,000 of vehicles, computers and a number of offensive weapons, including crossbows and baseball bats were found.

A police spokeswoman confirmed eight men and one woman have been arrested under terrorist legislation.

Three women and one man have been detained under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

The Brown murder case was reopened by Northern Ireland chief constable Sir Hugh Orde after appeals from the victim’s family.

Last month the BBC’s Crimewatch programme featured a reconstruction of Mr Brown’s last movements, which included new information about the route used by the suspects on May 12 1997.

Mr Brown’s body was later found with his burnt-out car near Randalstown.

The programme also featured personal appeals by Church of Ireland Archbishop Robin Eames and poet Seamus Heaney, a friend of the Brown family.