PSNI Assistant Chief Constable Alan McQuillan has claimed police are "seriously rattling" loyalist paramilitaries after two operations resulted in the arrests of 11 suspected UDA and UVF members.
Mr McQuillan, the police commander for Belfast, said that Police Service of Northern Ireland undercover detectives, posing as businesspeople, had broken a major UDA building extortion racket in north Belfast.
Three senior UDA members were arrested in Belfast yesterday after they attempted to extort tens of thousands of pounds from the detectives who were masquerading as building contractors, said Mr McQuillan.
"The arrests followed a long-running financial investigation into the UDA involving the extortion of building contractors in north Belfast," he explained.
Last night eight people were arrested in and around Craigantlet, on the outskirts of east Belfast. A shotgun, handgun, masks and walkie-talkies were recovered.
Mr McQuillan said some of those arrested were well known to the police.
"We believe we have foiled a crime being carried out by the UVF," he added.
He said these police "successes" against loyalists followed on other recent arrests, drugs seizures and weapons finds. These operations were "seriously rattling" the loyalist groups and having a major impact on their ability to raise money.
"Frankly, I hope this has put the fear of God into some of these people, and that the next time they will think seriously before getting involved in such operations. We are seriously determined to continue this and to do everything we can to put them in jail," said Mr McQuillan.
Up to 100 detectives are involved in tackling the multi-million pound paramilitary crime, according to police.
"One of our number one priorities is fighting paramilitary crime. Our dedicated team of detectives, coupled with a reduction in street violence, is helping to make this possible. The situation has been ongoing for months and will continue into the future," said Mr McQuillan.
The arrests occurred just days after the return to Northern Ireland of a group of Ulster Unionist and DUP politicians who joined representatives from the Progressive Unionist Party (PUP) and the Ulster Political Research Group (UPRG) for talks on unionist unity.
Some nationalist politicians queried how UUP and DUP politicians would hold talks with the PUP and UPRG, which are respectively linked to the UVF and UDA, while refusing to sit in government with Sinn Féin.
