Police: Silent Guardian initiative sees drug arrests up 20 per cent in south east Antrim

Much of the trade in the Newtownabbey and Antrim areas involves cannabis and the number of seizures of illicit substances has risen, PSNI Superintendent Emma Bond said.

She added: "We have had an increase in drugs figures for the district over the past year.

"Drug seizures and arrests have both gone up.

"Ultimately that is due to the pro-activity of our local officers.

"This is work in education for the community to be a bit more vigilant and hopefully ... we can increase the statistics."

She said the number of arrests year-on-year had risen by around 20%.

Police launched an initiative called Silent Guardian, encouraging people to report suspected drug dealing to officers or the Crimestoppers charity anonymously.

Supt Bond added: "Part of the reason for Silent Guardian is that we are not necessarily convinced that we are as well informed as we would like to be or communities believe that we are around the issue of drugs.

"We would be hopeful that by providing them with information around the types of things that we would like them to tell us, that that information will be forthcoming."

Detective constable Claire Gilbert said the operation was aimed at helping the public to think outside the box and was not pinpointed at anybody.

A loyalist feud which led to the shooting dead of George Gilmore in Carrickfergus in March has been ongoing for months.

In recent times, a dispute between loyalist factions in Carrickfergus has exploded into violence. Mr Gilmore, 44, was shot in a ruthless attack in broad daylight.

DUP MP Sammy Wilson has said the feud involves two factions of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) paramilitary group.