Forty-five weapons seized at Belfast International Airport

Flights from Bulgaria have seen the largest seizures as weapons are openly for sale in the markets and shops of the popular tourist resorts, an Organised Crime Task Force (OCTF) report said.

Prosecutions have been taken by the National Crime Agency for a number of cases. Twenty-three organised crime gangs were dismantled in Northern Ireland last year.

The number of groups whose activities were frustrated, disrupted or dismantled has increased slightly on the previous year, according to the task force’s annual report for 2016/17.

More than £1.7 million worth of criminal assets were recovered, much of it returned to law enforcement agencies.

Justice Department permanent secretary Nick Perry said: “OCTF is continuing to provide a strategic forum that brings together government and law enforcement to work in partnership to combat organised crime.

“However, as the threat we face shifts and adapts, so we must develop, build and enhance our strengths and learn new ways of working together if we are to keep pace with, and indeed get ahead of, the emerging threats that face us.”

The OCTF brings together agencies like the PSNI, borders and customs officers. It has also confiscated a number of tasers, and batons from criminals.

The task force’s annual report recorded more than 5,500 drugs swoops and the rescue of 34 victims and potential victims of modern slavery.