North Antrim UDA: PSNI claims success in crackdown on gang
- Published
The Ulster Defence Association (UDA) was formed in 1971 as an umbrella group for a variety of loyalist groups
Police have had some success against a loyalist paramilitary group amid a crackdown that began last year, a senior officer has said.
A specialist police unit has carried out almost 40 raids targeting suspected criminality linked to the north Antrim Ulster Defence Association (UDA) since September 2020.
It follows a surge in violence linked to the gang.
A gun and ammunition were discovered in the latest police searches last week.
The gang was "about crime, ego and control", said Ch Supt Ian Magee.
A former justice minister said the public wanted police to do more.
The Paramilitary Crime Taskforce - made up of specialist officers from the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), the National Crime Agency and HM Revenue and Customs - was brought in to help local officers in the Causeway Coast and Glens policing district in summer last year.
Ch Supt Magee said the operation has dealt a blow to the loyalist group.
"We've seen a 60% reduction in violent attacks carried out by north Antrim UDA on members of our population," he said.
"We've also seen a 50% reduction in people subjected to shootings by that grouping.
"And we've seen a further 100% reduction in people who've been subjected to violent attacks using weapons in the north Antrim area."
Guns have been seized in raids targeting the UDA in north Antrim, says Ch Supt Ian Magee
The latest police searches targeting suspected UDA criminality took place in Ballymoney, Limavady and Coleraine last Monday.
The PSNI says seven people have been arrested by the Paramilitary Crime Task Force in the last 10 days.
Two of those individuals have since been charged.
In addition, 11 people were arrested for terrorism-related offences in the Causeway Coast and Glens District in the year to October.
Police statistics also show there were three fewer shootings in the area than the eight recorded in the previous 12 months.
However, the district recorded the third-highest number of shootings in Northern Ireland, behind the Belfast (nine) and Derry City and Strabane (11) policing districts.
'Criminals driving expensive cars'
Independent assembly member and former justice minister Claire Sugden said the figures were moving in the right direction, but that there were still problems linked to paramilitarism in the community.
Claire Sugden served at Stormont's justice minister from May 2016 to March 2017
"Constituents are telling me daily that they are feeling terrorised by this type of activity," she said.
"Some people in Coleraine are seeing these criminals driving around the town in very expensive vehicles.
"They're questioning where the money is coming from and that's not being addressed, so the police need to do more.
"It's a positive step in terms of the figures but it's not necessarily being represented on the ground."
Ch Supt Magee said: "There have been seizures of firearms linked to paramilitary groupings, there have been people arrested, people interviewed and a small number of people charged.
"But my work is more to do with prevention."
He said the gang was putting out a message that they were protecting their community and that the violence was necessary.
"They don't care about people, they don't care about justice and they do not care about social issues," he said.
"This is about crime, ego and control."
- Published21 March 2021
