Ulster Unionist leader Mr David Trimble today urged the British Government to crack down on the profits made by terrorist groups in Northern Ireland.
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UUP leader Mr David Trimble
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Mr Trimble, in Brighton for the Labour Party conference, welcomed Chancellor Mr Gordon Brown's move against money laundering in the UK by the Taliban but argued he should also focus on republican and loyalist groups in the North.
Arguing the British government should also focus on the sources of terrorist funds such as drug dealing, racketeering and smuggling, Mr Trimble said the Treasury needed to "review those of its policies which give rise to such illegal activities.
"The high rate of duties and taxes on fuel and tobacco, in particular, provide terrorists with huge incentives to operate black markets," he said.
The UUP leader said the Treasury was losing between £200 million and £300 million a year through fuel smuggling in Northern Ireland.
A high proportion of these funds were finding their way to organisations and was being laundered through a range of "apparently legitimate activities".
"Gordon Brown and the prime minister cannot have failed to have noticed the coincidence between terrorism and the drugs trade," Mr Trimble said.
"All Northern Ireland's paramilitaries profit from hard drugs. Terrorism thrives off drugs, internationally and at home in the UK, especially in Northern Ireland. Gordon Brown's actions are welcome in so far as they go but they need to be followed by a concerted drive against terrorists and their means of support".
PA