Don't know why I bothered with this, but took a bit of effort to get this on here. And I doubt this is the full article, and there may be errors and omissions, but the gist of it all should be here.
Anyway, who'd have expected all this? The only surprising thing about it all is that it's portrayed as something new, rather than same old, same old. Of course, the problem may be getting worse, but maybe it's just being considered worthy of police and press attention after the recent 'gun-toting' incident.
And hardly that different to what happens with a section of the trade on mainland UK, but across here at worst it's probably on the edges of organised crime rather than the paramilitaries
‘Deals on wheels’ as loyalist gangs use taxis as cover to transport drugs and collect cashLoyalist paramilitaries are using dozens of taxi drivers as cover to transport drugs and collect cash.Details of the scam emerged after sacked Fonacab driver Brian Stalford was recorded on a dash-cam threatening a passenger with a suspected firearm over an alleged debt.
The 48-year-old, who claims the footage was a prank, was remanded in custody charged with possession of a pistol-type weapon, making threats to kill and assault.
When Stalford appeared in court last weekend he was described by a police officer as being an enforcer for the East Belfast UVF.
Last year another taxi driver, Mark Rainey, was jailed for six years for dealing drugs for the East Belfast UVF.
He used the job as a front to mask his criminality, with a court hearing that the 42-year-old was a “commercial supplier of cocaine and cannabis”.
Thomas Porter is another ex-cabbie who used the role as cover to travel throughout Belfast and Co Antrim transporting UDA drugs and collecting debts.
The 47-year-old was recently handed an 18-month sentence at Antrim Crown Court for supplying cannabis and money-lending.
Porter, who lives in Greenisland but is from the Shankill Road area of Belfast, was arrested in a Paramilitary Crime Taskforce operation against the West Belfast UDA.
Last year Steven Kidd, a former taxi driver from the Shankill, had two properties worth £150,000 seized under the Proceeds of Crime Act after the High Court ruled they had been bought with laundered money.
The case against the 49-year-old was taken by the National Crime Agency (NCA) and Paramilitary Crime Taskforce. They linked Kidd – an uncle of convicted UDA boss Dee Coleman – to the West Belfast UDA.
Loyalist sources told Sunday Life that taxi drivers are being increasingly used by the UDA and UVF as cover for criminality.
One revealed: “It’s got so bad that certain depots are being given nicknames like Fon-a-gram or Call-a-line.
“Some drivers are making more money moving drugs about or collecting debts for the UVF and UDA than they do from actual taxiing.
“It’s the perfect cover because how often do you see a taxi being stopped by the police? Even if they are pulled over drivers have a ready-made excuse for being at any location, all they have to say is that they are there to pick up a fare.”
Dozens of taxi depots throughout Northern Ireland are controlled by paramilitaries through front men, particularly those in loyalist and republican heartlands.
But according to insiders the UDA and UVF has been encouraging its members to take up jobs with firms considered ‘neutral’ as it gives them better cover for criminality.
Industry background checks are also feeble, concentrating on whether new drivers have clean licences and not any criminal convictions.
Our source added: “Working for a neutral firm, rather than one in a loyalist area, gives the driver a greater area to roam which means they can travel further to do drug drops.
“The cops have realised this and that’s why you’ve seen guys like Mark Rainey, Tom Porter and Steven Kidd all in court in the past year.”
Brian Stalford – whose dash-cam video went viral – has insisted the recording was a joke meant for TikTok.
In the footage he is seen pointing a gun at his terrified passenger and then hitting him with the suspected weapon, saying: “You are lucky I'm not taking your f*****g knees out now.”
Giving evidence during Stalford’s remand hearing, a police officer said the footage was not "TikTok foolery’’
“A number of malicious threats are made to a passenger in which he was told if the conversation in the car gets out, 'I'll be taking your head off,’’ said the officer.
“And then (he) was instructing him to work his debt off, police would say that is a drugs-related debt and this is a drugs-related matter.”
The officer added that the PSNI’s position is that Stalford is an enforcer for the East Belfast UVF, but there is nothing to say that he is a member.
In a statement issued to Sunday Life afterwards the East Belfast UVF said it has no links to Brian Stalford.
The `gun-toting’ taxi man, who was sacked by Fonacab as soon as the footage came to light, is due back in court again later this month.
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