Crimefighters in Northern Ireland have frozen more than €2 million worth of cash and property belonging to a murdered loyalist paramilitary boss, it emerged today.
Assets Recovery Agency chief Alan McQuillan has taken control of all bank accounts belonging to drugs baron Jim Johnston after being given permission by the High Court in Belfast.
The operation was seen as a major success for Mr McQuillan, the former police chief who has been under intense pressure to start stripping paramilitary extortionists and racketeers of their wealth.
One source close to his team said: "This is what he has anticipated all along.
"It's just these things take time before they get to this stage." Johnston (45), a top member of the Ulster Volunteer Force-linked Red Hand Commando, was gunned down in May outside his €700,000 home in Crawfordsburn, Co Down.
The revenge killing was part of a bitter struggle between rival loyalist factions for control of the lucrative narcotics trade.