The loyalist Red Hand Defenders have admitted they carried out an attack on a man in Coalisland, Co Tyrone this morning.
The shooting was originally blamed on the IRA.
The Red Hand Defenders is a cover name used in the past by both the Ulster Defence Association and the Loyalist Volunteer Force.
The man wounded in the shooting is to be questioned in connection with a £620,000 drugs seizure, it emerged tonight.
Mr Stephen "Donkey" Quinn, 31, was hit in the shoulder when a gunman fired up to nine shots in an attempt to kill him outside a house at Coalisland, near Dungannon, Co Tyrone.
He was later arrested by RUC officers at a hospital ward in Belfast.
Mr Quinn had been wanted for questioning since January l999 when ecstasy tablets and cannabis worth £620,000, as well as cash, was recovered by the RUC drugs squad.
An RUC spokesman tonight confirmed his arrest and said he would be interviewed in connection with the seizure.
The RUC are seeking assistance from anyone who saw a small grey coloured van with a beacon light in the center of the roof in the area between 7 and 8 p.m. or leaving the scene.
This was the second attempt on the man's life after two friends, who were allegedly involved in drugs dealing, were shot dead.
Mr Quinn, a Catholic, was with his wife and two children, aged seven and 11, when a gunmen opened fire. He escaped by driving off in his Jeep, despite injuries to his shoulder and back.
Dungannon SDLP councillor Mr Vincent Currie claimed the IRA carried out the shooting. "They were acting as judge and jury, and clearly in this case intended to be executioner as well," he said.
Sinn Féin tonight denied any republican involvement in the Coalisland shooting, but Mr Currie said: "Anybody who lives in this area would be 100% sure of who was responsible for what happened."
He added: "Sinn Féin have been telling us the IRA guns are silent. It is not the case. They are just as capable now of inflicting the same injuries as they were when the ceasefire was called."
PA