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NI firm suspected of smuggling
Page 9
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A MULTI-MILLION-POUND transport business has been frozen and luxury cars and a helicopter have been seized by the Assets Recovery Agency (ARA). The firm in question is Northern Irish international operator MMK International transport, run by Mark and Beverley McKinney from Portadown in County Armagh.
The ARA suspects that the firm has been used to smuggle drugs, fuel and cigarettes —and to launder more than 2650,000.
It was granted an Interim Receivers Order at Belfast Crown Court last week and seized assets worth an estimated £3.6m. These include the contents of over 30 bank accounts, and more than 70 vehicles including a Bentley, a Range Rover and a helicopter.
The court heard evidence from the ARA that Mark McKinney had previous convictions under terrorism legislation as well as links to loyalist paramilitary groups.
The assets of Anthony James McNeil from Portadown were frozen under the same order..
Commenting on the case, ARA assistant director Alan McQuillan says: "At the heart of these assets is a major road haulage business based in Portadown.
"While that company has some legitimate business, part of the ARA's case to the high court was that it was also used as a vehicle for smuggling drugs, tobacco and oil into Northern Ireland — and that the McKinneys and McNeil were involved in laundering the proceeds of crime."