The Ulster Unionist Party’s Justice spokesperson Tom Elliott has welcomed recent massive drugs seizures and warned that they are proof that the refusal of Sinn Fein and the SDLP to permit the National Crime Agency to operate to its full extent in Northern Ireland, is turning our Province into the favoured European distribution hub for drug gangs.  

Mr Elliott said:

“I would like to congratulate the Police on last night’s major drugs seizure in Ballygawley in which 50kgs of cocaine valued at more than £2.5 million. Thanks are also due to Dutch authorities who in a separate operation seized 20kg of cocaine which was believed to be bound for Fermanagh. Last but by no means least; I would like to congratulate the Garda for their actions in sizing £3.6m of cannabis at Dublin port.

“The huge scale and international nature of these seizures emphasise very clearly the role played by international crime gangs in the drugs trade and demonstrate the insanity of the position adopted by the SDLP and Sinn Fein in refusing to allow the National Crime Agency to operate to the same extent in Northern Ireland as it does in the rest of the United Kingdom.

“The sums involved in the drugs trade indicate that these criminal gangs are not hampered by a lack of resources. It is imperative that the forces of law and order which are trying to combat them, are given all the resources they require to keep our cities, towns and villages free from the scourge of drugs.

“These recent massive seizures of consignments of drugs on their way to Northern Ireland confirm the worst fears of the Ulster Unionist Party that the lack of a fully functioning NCA in Northern Ireland is turning our Province into the favoured European distribution hub for drug gangs, who view us as an easy back door route to peddle their poison in the United Kingdom.”