Russian mafia thug lives in Belfast
Paula Crothers
Olivia Reilly
Noel Reilly
The UVF is harbouring Russian drug runners responsible for two Ecstasy deaths in the last few days.
The Sunday World can reveal that three people have lost their lives in separate suspected drugs-death incidents across Belfast in the last four days having taken E-type tablets.
At least one other person is understood to have been hospitalised.
But our sources say two of the deaths were caused by E-tabs peddled by Russian gangsters previously exposed in this newspaper.
The deadly tablets have been manufactured with a new synthetic drug which takes longer for users to achieve a ‘high’ and they then take more.
It is the latest tragic instalment in a sorry tale of misery with the number of people believed to have fallen victim to the drugs epidemic rising on a weekly basis.
And now it seems that last year’s plague of ecstasy deaths in Ulster is continuing into 2014.
Loyalist terror group the UVF is working hand in hand with a ruthless eastern European criminal gang first exposed in this newspaper.
We can reveal that in return for a slice of the profits the UVF in south Belfast offer protection and runners for the organised crime gang.
The gang, known as The Russians, but comprised of people from various countries in Eastern Europe, now controls the drugs trade in south Belfast and across the city centre.
This is the first time they have been implicated in the Ecstasy death scandal.
We understand they are selling E-type drugs for a £1 apiece.
Revellers can even buy in bulk – £75 will buy you 100 tablets.
UVF sources have told us that there is growing unease at the level of co-operation between the terror group and The Russians.
One source told us: “The UVF has struck a deal with the Devil.”
Loyalist sources have told us that the paramilitary group is split down the middle.
The Russian invaders are running brothels and are heavily armed and despite UVF efforts they have out-muscled their loyalist rivals.
“The Russians are the bosses,” said our source.
“They control the drugs trade, they have the UVF dancing to their tune.”
The Russians feed their new ‘buddy’ terror bosses with cocaine and Ecstasy – buying their right to sell life threatening drugs on the streets of Belfast.
One South Belfast UVF boss is now said to be hopelessly addicted to cocaine.
The organised crime gang sell high grade coke and they supply him with his fix. So dependent is he on the drug that he is prepared to exile members of his own organisation for standing up to the invaders from Eastern Europe.
He has issued a death threat against three veteran UVF men who stood up to the Russians.
The Sunday World can reveal that four carloads of UVF goons arrived at the homes of three people who have stood up to the Russians.
In October a member of the Russian gang narrowly avoided serious injury when a crossbow bolt was fired through the window of a house on Belfast’s Donegall Road.
The man who fired the bolt -– a 30 year UVF veteran – has been ordered to leave south Belfast.
“He has been told that if he doesn’t leave they (UVF) will take him, kill him and bury him on Cave Hill,” said our source.
“They told him that by the time they finished with him, the only way anyone would recognise him would be by his tattoos.
“This is a man with 30 years under his belt in the UVF.”
In October the Sunday World first lifted the lid on The Russians.
In a special investigation we revealed how they were operating in the loyalist heartland of south Belfast
With a criminal empire stretching across Europe they have shoved the UVF out of the way.
They now control the drugs trade in Belfast and are operating at least 20 brothels across the city.
The death pills are suspected to be so deadly because illegal drugs manufacturers are cutting the powder the pills are made from with a new synthetic drug designed to mimic the effects of MDMA.
PMA is a cheaper alternative to MDMA, the active ingredient in ecstasy, which is being used by illegal drugs manufacturers to pack out the pills.
It creates a similar ‘high’ to MDMA but it takes longer to kick in.
One of the theories behind the deaths is that users are taking more pills because they think it isn’t working. Then a large amount of PMA kicks in at once causing users to overdose.
Last year we reported on how the police had investigated a possible drugs link in the deaths of eight people in June.
In August, drugs squad police arrested four men in connection with the deaths of Noel Reilly, 36, and Olivia Reilly, 29, from Lisnaskea, Co Fermanagh. The pair were not related.
In a separate incident in August a man was arrested on suspicion of a drugs offence after the death of 19-year-old Paula Crothers from Dundonald who was at a house party in South Belfast.
By Richard Sullivan and Jamie McDowell