Police say they have smashed a loyalist drug gang after they made the largest-ever seizure of cocaine in the North.
The drugs with an estimated street of £1 million stering (€1.43 million) were found after raids on premises in Lurgan, Co Armagh, and Lisburn, Co Antrim.
As police today questioned one man about the haul, detectives are set to begin a investigation into the assets of all the suspects.
One source said: "These people will have to justify everything they own. If they are living in monster houses we want to know how they can legitimately afford them. By the time this is over we hope to have put them out of business."
The cocaine was found yesterday as part of a police crackdown on serious and organised crime in the mid-Ulster area. Detectives believe the drugs came into Northern Ireland from either Holland or Belgium.
Some half a dozen men are thought to have been involved, with the bosses drawn from the hardline Loyalist Volunteer Force.
"We have been running an operation against these people for some time," one source said. "This is a composite gang of drug dealers, but the leadership is LVF."
Drugs squad officers are now expected to work alongside the Police Service of Northern Ireland's financial investigations unit.
PA