Organised crime gangs are set to muscle in on Ulster’s drug and extortion rackets.
The Sunday World has previously revealed how eastern European and Triad gangs already command a major slice of the action in Belfast, but it is understood that other foreign gangs already have their sights set on Northern Ireland.
One major gang dubbed The Russians control the drugs racket in Belfast, outmuscling the UVF to set up a series of brothels across the south of the city and take a stranglehold on the drugs trade.
Well placed sources have told us gang bosses are amazed at the drugs profits to be had in Belfast and have already beefed up their operation.
It is understood the gang operates at least six brothels but has been busy buying up vacant properties with the intention of expanding their sex empire.
Women are being trafficked regularly from eastern Europe and pressed into service in the sex industry. They are also being forced to courier drugs first into Dublin and then into Northern Ireland.
It is understood up to a dozen foreign nationals are now based in Belfast overseeing the criminal empire.
According to our source they have been taken aback at the success of their enterprise north of the border.
“They established themselves in Dublin first,” said our source.
“They had no real plan to move in on Belfast in any great number but they began to notice how many people were prepared to drive to Dublin from the north to buy their drugs got them thinking.”
The Russians have earned a reputation for the purity of their drugs.
“Dealers in Belfast are so greedy they were cutting their coke so much it was as little as two per cent pure, the Russians insist on 25 per cent purity – and they’re cheaper.”
Up to now they have restricted their operations to south Belfast and the city centre but the Sunday World can reveal they are looking to the north of the city and further afield with Fermanagh and Ballymena in their sights.
Ballymena has long had a reputation for being a major drugs hub.
And they will not be afraid to take on local paramilitaries just as they did on Sandy Row and the Donegall Road in Belfast where are now effectively working in partnership with the UVF.
The gang, which is heavily armed, moved into the Donegall Road area last year and immediately clashed with local paramilitary figures. One leading east European figure was lucky to escape with his life when an under-car booby trap fell from the underside of the vehicle as he drove off.
On another occasion a gang member narrowly avoided serious injury when a crossbow bolt was fired through the door of a house in the Village district.
The Russians set up an extensive drug dealing business and opened two brothels in the heart of the UVF controlled district
There have been numerous violent clashes with shots fired on a number of occasions before UVF commander Eddie ‘Onions’ Rainey and sidekick Colin ‘Meerkat’ Fulton called a truce and agreed to a sit down meeting.
In return for agreeing not interfere in their criminal activities, the Russians pay UVF a slice of the profits and keep them supplied with high grade cocaine.
The relationship is now so cosy the Russians even offered to “take out” three senior UVF figures who opposed the arrangement.
The Russians said they would use a hitman, based in Limerick, to travel north to assassinate three senior UVF figures opposed to the drugs trade.
