Police said yesterday that loyalist paramilitaries were involved in trying to smuggle into Northern Ireland the largest haul of ecstasy so far seized in the North.
Around 300,000 ecstasy tablets and a quantity of cannabis with an estimated combined street value of £3 million was intercepted by the Drugs Squad in the early hours of the morning after it came off a ferry in Belfast docks.
The lorry targeted by officers as it left the ferry had arrived from the Scottish port of Stranraer shortly after 3 a.m.
Police believe the drugs originated in either Holland or Belgium. Chief Insp John Fenton said officers had been working on the case for six months.
"We are satisfied that it was part of a criminal gang. We are satisfied that there was input from a loyalist paramilitary group."
A 27-year-old man arrested at the scene was being questioned by police. - (PA)