The RUC is losing the battle against an increasing drugs trade in the North, an Assemblyman has said.
Mr Seamus Close of the Alliance party made the claim during a presentation by members of the RUC and Northern Customs to an ad-hoc Assembly committee considering legislation that would allow the proceeds of criminal activities to be confiscated.
Earlier, Det Supt David Thompson, head of the Economic Crime Bureau, said the Financial Investigation Order (NI) 2001 would help the force clamp down on the North's leading criminals by extending the powers of investigation into their finances.
Customs officials told the committee there was evidence criminals were moving away from banks and making greater use of solicitors and real estate to launder the proceeds of crime. The new measures took account of this and other developments.
Mr Close said, however, that "even the proverbial dogs in the street" could point out drug dealers who were ostensibly on benefit driving cars worth £20,000. He put it to Mr Thompson that the measures employed by the RUC were not working. "If we were cracking down we would not be seeing increases in drugs seizures." Mr Thompson said the police had to have evidence before they could satisfy the courts that a confiscation order should be put into effect. As a criminal conviction was necessary, they had to have evidence that would prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. "The difficulty is in getting that evidence." Mr Close said only an agency following the lower, civil standard of proof, like the Criminal Assets Bureau in the South, would have any real success in seizing criminal assets.