AN estimated £48,000 worth of suspected class A drugs, thousands of cigarettes and counterfeit items have been seized during a police operation linked to the West Belfast UDA.
Officers from the Paramilitary Crime Task Force (PCTF) seized the items during searches at three locations in the Shankill area as part of an ongoing investigation into suspected drugs criminality.
A police spokesman said drugs, an estimated 10,000 cigarettes, cash and a number of suspected counterfeit items, including football shirts, were recovered.
"The searches and seizures are a demonstration of the PCTF’s commitment to tackle all types of organised criminality linked to paramilitaries, in an ongoing effort to rid our communities of the harm these groups cause and of their coercive control," he said.
"Our enquiries are ongoing and we would like to thank the local community for their continued support and will continue to act on the information you provide us."
SDLP west Belfast representative Paul Doherty said he welcomed "the efforts of officers from the PCTF in taking these harmful drugs and other illegal items off our streets and out of circulation".
"Too many families in this community have suffered as a direct result of the scourge of drug abuse and we must do everything we can to put an end to these gangs who prey on the vulnerable," he said.
“It is completely unacceptable that paramilitary groups are still operating on the streets of west Belfast.
"There can be no justification for the continuation of these groups, they have no support and are no more than criminals who are doing untold damage to the very people they falsely claim to represent."
