Paramilitaries Funded by Crime, Panel Says
NORTHERN IRELAND
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Outlawed paramilitary groups on both sides of Northern Ireland’s religious divide are raising millions of dollars a year through armed robbery, protection rackets, drug trafficking, and smuggling fuel, alcohol and cigarettes, Britain’s House of Commons Northern Ireland Affairs Committee said in a report.
The panel said that the Irish Republican Army collects $7.7 million to $12 million a year through organized criminal activity and that the splinter group known as the Real IRA gets $7.7 million.
On the Protestant side, the panel said, the Loyalist Volunteer Force takes in $3.1 million a year, the Ulster Volunteer Force gets $2.3 million and the Ulster Defense Assn. collects $765,000 to $1.5 million.
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