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| Shoukri jailed for bar extortion | Shoukri jailed for bar extortion |
| (40 minutes later) | |
| Prominent north Belfast loyalist Andre Shoukri has been sentenced to nine years jail for trying to extort thousands of pounds from a pub owner. | Prominent north Belfast loyalist Andre Shoukri has been sentenced to nine years jail for trying to extort thousands of pounds from a pub owner. |
| He was jailed on 18 charges including blackmail, intimidation and acquiring and using criminal property. | He was jailed on 18 charges including blackmail, intimidation and acquiring and using criminal property. |
| Belfast Crown Court heard he used his Ulster Defence Association status to force his victim to hand over cash. | Belfast Crown Court heard he used his Ulster Defence Association status to force his victim to hand over cash. |
| "Shoukri was very aggressive and angry and demanded money be paid to him then and there - it was," prosecution said. | |
| Prosecuting barrister Gordon Kerr said the notorious paramilitary had become more and more aggressive, constantly making demands and accusing his victim of holding money back. | Prosecuting barrister Gordon Kerr said the notorious paramilitary had become more and more aggressive, constantly making demands and accusing his victim of holding money back. |
| "She would say she was being directly threatened at this stage." | "She would say she was being directly threatened at this stage." |
| The charges against 30-year-old Shoukri included using "certain criminal property, namely a money transfer" from a building society to buy his Clare Heights home in Belfast in November 2004. | |
| Jailed with him for nine years was John Boreland, 38 from Sunningdale Gardens, on four charges of blackmail, one of intimidation and one of possessing a firearm, or imitation firearm to commit assault. | |
| Also jailed, for seven years, was 25-year-old Terry Harbinson from Tyndale Gardens, Belfast, who admitted blackmail, and intimidation and possession of a firearm, or imitation firearm. | |
| Former Met policeman Ian Peter Craig, 47, of Garland Hill, Manse Road, Belfast, turned mortgage advisor who aided and abetted, counselled or procured Shoukri in the dishonest obtaining of a money transfer received two years, suspended for three years. | |
| A police spokesman claimed that the police operation "had the effect of dismantling the leadership of the UDA in north Belfast" at that particular time. | |
| He added that Shoukri, Boreland and Harbinson "thought they were above the law". | |
| "You could say they thought they were untouchable. The fact is they were not," he said. | |
| "Those who prey on individuals and communities through extortion are not untouchable." |