David '˜Dee' Stitt: I don't expect to be interviewed by PSNI over raid on house

The former UDA prisoner was dismissive of the police searches which the PSNI said were targeted against the UDA in north Down, and said that he remained in regular contact with senior police officers.

On March 29, the PSNI announced the searches in a statement which said that officers from the Paramilitary Crime Task Force had carried out three searches under the misuse of drugs act “in residential properties in Lord Wardens Court and a commercial property on the Rathgael Road area of Bangor”.

The statement said that the operation “was directed against North Down UDA” and that “a small amount of class B drugs, a computer hard drive, mobile phones and a Taser stun gun have been recovered. An adult male will be interviewed at a later date with another male cautioned at the scene with a report to the PPS to follow.”

When asked if he had been interviewed or expected to be interviewed by police, Mr Stitt said: “No. Why? On what?”

He disputed that the PSNI had found a Taser, claiming that it had instead been a prank mobile phone device which delivers a small electric shock, describing it as a ”wee joke phone”.

He told the News Letter: “They didn’t find a stun gun. It was a mobile phone that you buy on eBay for a fiver; I had it in my briefcase.”

He claimed the cannabis found during the raids was in a neighbour’s house and was “dust in the bottom of a tin”.

Mr Stitt said that he had smoked cannabis while in jail but that he no longer uses any drugs, has never been involved in the sale of drugs and is “totally against drugs”.

Last year BBC Spotlight reported allegations from a UDA insider that Mr Stitt was the commander of the paramilitary group in north Down and that it was heavily involved in drug dealing.

Mr Stitt said that he and his wife are “clean living; healthy living – don’t smoke, don’t drink; off cigarettes seven years, don’t drink alcohol [before quickly adding] – socially drink alcohol, don’t get me wrong”.

And he insisted that he “supports the rule of law; I support the paramilitary task force in their job. At the end of the day, they have to hit the right people’s houses. If they’re coming hitting my house, why are they hitting my house”.

He claimed that the police only raided his house because of media coverage alleging he has involvement in criminality.

In the past, the PSNI has been criticised for being too close to Mr Stitt, with Chief Constable George Hamilton pictured beside him two years ago.

Mr Stitt said: “See the chief inspector from Ards and North Down – I was on the phone with him the next day after George Hamilton gave the ‘yes mate, North Down UDA’s involved in x, y and z’. I was on the phone [saying] ‘where is this’ – I was having that conversation, two-way.”

He added: “I still talk to the chief inspector of Ards and North Down; we still have relationships with the local police here; 100% it still goes on.”