The Belfast Telegraph’s Jonathan McCambridge picked up on an article in the Economic Outlook And Business Review, which doesn’t appear to be online available here (P. 16), by Bridget Lloyd, assistant director of analytical services at the PSNI. The report quotes from the article that the assesment, given the under-reporting of incidents, is that for-profit-terrorism has increased in Northern Ireland since the 1998 Agreement. And that doesn’t include the more public examples.. Added Link to Review. Thanks Mark.From the Belfast Telegraph article
In an article entitled Extortion – The Cost Of Doing Business In Northern Ireland?, she said: “It is hard to assess the scale and scope of this problem [extortion] in NI, as it is grossly underreported to police.
“What is clear is that extortion is prevalent in many parts of Northern Ireland and that its overall impact on businesses, individuals and on the community as a whole is significant.”
She added: “Traditionally, demands were made on behalf of the organisation, very often under the guise of prisoners’ welfare, but the release of most of the paramilitary prisoners following the Good Friday Agreement (GFA) has not led to any diminution in levels of extortion; if anything the problem has increased with individual members and former members operating independently but using their terrorist credentials to increase the fear factor for their victims.
“It is suggested they are operating with the knowledge of their leadership of their organisations on the understanding that they will not be afforded any organisational support if caught.“[added emphasis]
