Annual drugs death rate worse than most years of Troubles, says former head of PSNI Organised Crime Branch

Former Det Chief Supt Roy McComb highlighted the devastation such gangs inflict on families with drugs, killing about 150 people a year in NI.

“People have a dismissive attitude – ‘Ah well, it must be because they are all druggies’,” he said. “But each death is a brother, an uncle, an aunt. They are all family members. Ordinary people do not realise that organised crime is such a clear and immediate threat to people’s lives in NI.

West Balkan crime gangs ‘emerging as top dogs in NI’ says former head of PSNI Organised Crime Branch

Eastern European cyber gangs being used to troll Arlene Foster and Stephen Nolan, warns expert

“We don’t get angry enough about the loss of lives because of drug overdoses. About 150 people died [in NI] last year from drugs – often mixing drugs and alcohol. We don’t get angry enough that we lose more people every year to drugs than we did in the vast majority of the 30 years of the Troubles. Where is the public outcry and demand for more positive action?”

The other major area of business for such gangs in NI is human trafficking, he said. His PSNI officers uncovered a brothel in south Belfast a number of years ago which had a bedroom which was locked from the outside.

“The room was empty,” he said. “We rescued a number of girls but what was disturbing was that the door frame was scratched by fingernails on the inside to the extent that there was dried blood and the remnants of a fingernail still embedded in the wood. How desperate must you be to be clawing at the wood to get out?”

Blood taken from the door gave a DNA sample that was used to track down a Chinese woman in a London brothel two or three years later.

“Where had that person been for those years? How many times per day per week and per year had that person been forced to have sex against their will?”

Human trafficking also consists of labour exploitation in nail salons and car washes.

‘Crime as a service’ is a further business area – such as  computer hacking to order, something Europol now highlights as a growth industry. Another money-spinner is illegal immigration.

And there is probably more money stolen in the UK now through banking scams than at the barrel of a gun.

By necessity all such gangs also commit money laundering crimes to sanitise their ill-gotten profits, he added.

MORE NEWS:

West Balkan crime gangs ‘emerging as top dogs in NI’ says former head of PSNI Organised Crime Branch

Eastern European cyber gangs being used to troll Arlene Foster and Stephen Nolan, warns expert

Dramatic images as NI town centre property collapses

In pictures: NI Centenary parade takes place in Ballymena

Daughter baptised during funeral service for Covid victim mother Samantha Willis (35)

Northern Ireland’s top nurse quits Province for fresh job in England

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our advertisers - and consequently the revenue we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription.

Subscribe to newsletter.co.uk and enjoy unlimited access to the best Northern Ireland and UK news and information online and on our app. With a digital subscription, you can read more than 5 articles, see fewer ads, enjoy faster load times, and get access to exclusive newsletters and content. Visit https://www.newsletter.co.uk/subscriptions now to sign up.

Our journalism costs money and we rely on advertising, print and digital revenues to help to support them. By supporting us, we are able to support you in providing trusted, fact-checked content for this website.

Ben Lowry

Acting Editor