Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
ASSETS TARGETED IN CRIME CRACKDOWN
Welfare orders will allow officers to strip Ulster gangsters of cash and luxury cars
LAW enforcement agencies are to get a crucial new tool to strip Ulster gangsters of their cash and luxury cars.
But moves to equip local officers with “unexplained wealth orders” have been delayed due to Stormont being suspended, it has emerged.
Details of the new tool in the crime-busting armory emerged ahead of the Organised Crime Task Force’s annual report being published – outlining results in a number of agencies’ efforts to tackle the issue.
The report was also delayed due to there being no Executive.
Senior figures revealed a number of startling developments in the battle against organised crime including Border Force staff seizing 150,000 sleeping pills hidden in M&M bags at Belfast International Airport around a month ago.
The Task Force’s annual report for 2016/17 said law enforcement agencies dismantled 23 organised crime groups and disrupted or frustrated 106 more.
A total of 34 potential victims of human trafficking were recovered and there were 5,546 drug seizures and £1.7million recovered in criminal assets.
The PSNI has said fentanyl was recently introduced as an additive to heroin and had reached Northern Ireland.
The report added: “Anyone who uses heroin which contains even a small amount of fentanyl is at very high risk of overdose.
“This drug also poses a significant health and safety risk to those who come into contact with it and as such guidance is needed for officers and those who may be at risk of exposure.”
It said public toilets in Belfast were a common location for heroin users.
The number of cocaine seizures increased by 10% from 566 during 2015/16 to 620 for 2016/17. Addressing the issue of “unexplained
wealth orders”, one senior police source said they will be important as they “reverse the presumption” of who needs to prove where assets came from.
Current legislative measures aimed at tackling criminal wealth require law enforcement agencies to prove their belief assets have been obtained with criminal cash. But UWOS place that burden on the alleged criminal.
The legislation “requires a person who is reasonably suspected of involvement in – or of being connected to a person involved in – serious crime to explain the nature and extent of their interest in particular property and to explain how the property was obtained”.
It is expected the powers could be available to local crimefighters within several months of a Justice Minister being appointed at Stormont.
And a High Court judge will be required to grant the orders.