'Over 50 organised groups involved in NI drug dealing' - Save The Next One
There are over 50 organised crime groups involved in dealing drugs on the streets of Northern Ireland, the PSNI has revealed as part of our Save The Next One campaign.
In total, there are around 80 groups organised in criminal undertakings across the province, with the vast majority of these involved in some way in the illicit substance market.
Out of those, there could be as many as 20 paramilitary organisations profiting from selling drugs.
Detective Superintendent Bobby Singleton, Operational Lead for the Paramilitary Crime Task Force and head of the Organised Crime Unit, laid out the current situation here.
"Probably around somewhere in the region of 65-70% of all organised crime groups in Northern Ireland will be directly involved in the distribution or importation of drugs," he said.
"At this stage, we have around 80 organised crime groups, so it gives you a bit of a flavour, this is a really big issue in terms of organised criminality in Northern Ireland."
The three most common illegal drugs seen here are cannabis, cocaine and heroin, in that order.
DS Singleton said the perception of cannabis has become an issue for police.
"There would certainly be some sentiment that we would see among communities that would say 'well, somebody smoking blow doesn't cause problems'," he said.
"Actually, cannabis is the backbone of the drugs economy.
"With that comes the violence, the intimidation, the drugs debt.
"It's absolutely blighting communities across Northern Ireland, it's forcing young people to take their lives, it's resulting in barbaric paramilitary style attacks."
The desire to see ever-increasing profits has actually seen republican and loyalist paramilitary outfits lay aside old grievances.
"In almost complete contradiction of their supposed ideology, what we tend to see is cooperation between different groups," said DS Singleton.
"They'll deal drugs into each other and their communities, because what essentially motivates the majority of these groups is money.
"It's purely and simply about greed, it's not about ideology."
Beyond the paramilitary groupings involved in supplying drugs, there is also involvement from further afield.
"There is also an element of foreign national involvement," said DS Singleton.
"Probably about 10% of the groups we see will have some kind of international connection.
"Whether it's people that have come from, for example, other parts of Europe and have become resident here and are involved in criminal enterprise or groups that have connections that extend back to other countries as well."
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