NCJ Number
201621
Editor(s)
Jane Buckwalter
Date Published
July 2003
Length
1 page
Annotation
This article discusses how loyalist and republican terror gangs have linked the up Russian and Italian mafia and the Chinese triads to reap huge rewards from a wide variety of criminal activities.
Abstract
Former paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland are running a sophisticated, multi-million pound counterfeiting and smuggling operation that reaches across the globe. Up to 100 criminal gangs are operating in Ulster, and at least two-thirds are linked to the Provisional IRA, the Ulster Defence Association, and other paramilitary organizations. The province has become a major United Kingdom (UK) hub for the sale and distribution of counterfeit goods that include clothes, computer games, DVDs, CDs, videos, and cigarettes; law enforcement agencies in Northern Ireland seize more counterfeit goods than all other UK police forces combined. Counterfeit currency printed in Northern Ireland has been discovered all over the world and includes copies of sterling as well as dollars and euros. The gangs are also involved in smuggling illicit fuel into the province and prostitution, bringing hundreds of women from Eastern Europe on the promise of jobs and forcing them to work in the sex industry. The paramilitary gangs are able to take advantage of a pre-existing financial and organizational structure, and money previously spent on weapons is now spent on flashy cars and fancy houses for the leaders. The groups are known and feared, using their bad reputations to control the communities. Extortion remains the cornerstone of fundraising by the groups, with 65 percent of victims asking the police to take no action.