Cannabis find 'linked to loyalists'

An estimated £2m-worth of cannabis was seized

The largest single seizure of cannabis in Northern Ireland has been linked by police to loyalist paramilitaries.

Drugs with an estimated street value of £2m were found on Tuesday in Carrickfergus, County Antrim.

They were discovered in a lorry at Woodburn Road in the town.

On Wednesday, a further £500,000 worth of cannabis was found in an ongoing search of the lorry.

Three of the four men arrested following Tuesday's 400kg find are still in police custody, while a fourth has been released.

Superintendent George McAuley, head of the drugs squad in the Police Service of Northern Ireland, said it was the single largest seizure of cannabis in the province.

He added: "We're satisfied in this particular case we're looking at paramilitary involvement.

"Our investigation is ongoing but it's reasonable to say that the UDA and LVF are heavily engaged in drug dealing in the greater Belfast area.

"Ultimately it would have been distributed to a number of other groups within the Belfast area and ended up probably all over the country at street level dealing within pubs, clubs and other venues of entertainment."

Lost money

Mr McAuley said he was confident that the gang involved in the importation of the drugs had been dismantled.

"I'm satisfied this particular group is now out of business," he said.

"They have made a sizeable investment in this and we obviously have the drugs, so they have lost their money.

"They have paid a number of hundreds of thousands of pounds for this and obviously that's a big dent."