One of Belfast¿s most senior loyalist paramilitaries has been charged with gun-related charges following a major security operation on the outskirts of the city yesterday.
Andre Shoukri, 25, the Ulster Defence Association leader in the north of the city, was captured along with another man after officers stopped a car in the Rathcoole estate in Newtownabbey.
A semi-automatic pistol and ammunition were seized during the police swoop. Shoukri, nicknamed 'the Egyptian', has been accused of possessing a firearm with intent and will appear at Belfast Magistrates Court tomorrow.
The other man was today still being questioned by detectives. Amid fears of an all-out shooting war between rival loyalists after one terrorist was murdered and another injured earlier this month, police have mounted a huge surveillance operation across Belfast.
It was as part of that crackdown that a vehicle was stopped in Rathcoole, a staunchly Protestant housing estate ruled by loyalist paramilitary organisations.
Shoukri was only installed within the past few months as one of the six brigadiers who sit on the inner council of the UDA - Northern Ireland's largest loyalist paramilitary organisation.
He is a close associate of the notorious Ulster Freedom Fighters leader Johnny Adair, who returned to the streets of Belfast earlier this year after serving a 16-year prison sentence for directing terrorism.
Both men were among a group of loyalist paramilitaries who met the North's Secretary of State John Reid in east Belfast in May.
John White, the Ulster Political Research Group spokesman who has links to both Shoukri and Adair, confirmed the north Belfast brigadier had been arrested.
The arrest and charge came as tensions reached boiling point in Belfast amid fears of a vicious new loyalist feud linked to drugs.
Stephen Warnock, a senior Loyalist Volunteer Force member and known narcotics drug dealer was gunned down as he sat in his car in Newtownards, Co Down, just over a week ago.
Within days Jim Gray, the UDA's east Belfast commander, escaped death when gunmen shot him in the face during what was seen as a reprisal attack.
Police chiefs have warned that the dispute over who controls the drugs trade in Belfast and beyond could lead to more bloodshed.