Top PSNI officer warns that UVF is recruiting in the borough

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Detective Superintendent Bobby Singleton. PACEMAKER BELFAST 22/03/2019 Today officers from the Paramilitary Crime Task Force conducted a significant search and arrest operation against the criminal activities of the East Belfast UVF. Detective Superintendent Bobby Singleton said: “Together with our colleagues in Belfast City Policing District and Operational Support Department, we carried out 14 searches in the Greater Belfast, Ards and Comber areas and arrested 11 men aged between 22 and 48. They are currently in police custody being questioned by detectives. To date this has resulted in the seizure of £15,000 of suspected Class A drugs, a number of high value vehicles, high end jewellery, clothing and accessories and a significant quantity of cash. The investigation continues. East Belfast UVF have been a priority for the PCTF since its inception owing to the breadth and scale of criminality and the violence against and coercion of the community that goes hand in hand with it. Paramilitaries claim to protect local people but in reality they exploit them by supplying illegal drugs and using violence to try and control their markets. East Belfast UVF are nothing more than a drugs gang who operate under a flag of convenience in an attempt to legitimise their existence. Working with our partners and communities we are determined to rid our communities of these parasites