Weapons have been found after a big cocaine seizure linked to one of Northern Ireland's top crime gangs that had been under police surveillance for six months, it was revealed today.
A sawn-off shotgun and a pistol as well as cartridges and other ammunitions were recovered in follow-up searches. One man is being questioned.
With an estimated street value of £1.5 million sterling (€1.8 million), it was the biggest cocaine find in Northern Ireland.
It is understood the drugs, which were seized from a van on the M1 motorway in Belfast last night, were smuggled in from Europe and were on their way to be prepared for distribution.
A hydraulic press was also found in the vehicle and around £10,000 sterling (€15,000) in cash at a house in the south of the city. The weapons, which also included a blank firing pistol and a stun gun, were recovered from a house in Antrim.
Police believe the drugs were linked to a gang based in the greater Belfast area but with strong criminal connections across Northern Ireland and which had been under investigation and surveillance for six months.
Even though 60 top-level gangs were smashed or disrupted in the past year, the Organised Crime Task Force believes more than 230 gangs are operating in Northern Ireland, many of them linked to loyalist and republican paramilitaries.
PA