The new head of the Assets Recovery Agency for Northern Ireland has said that he expects successes against organised criminals to come by the end of this year.

Former Assistant Chief Constable Alan McQuillan said that he expected to see results in the latter half of the year, but believed that it could be some time before the agency made serious inroads into the recovery of proceeds from criminal activity.

"Judge me by my results," he said. "Give me two or three years to play our part in this process and see what the results are."

Mr McQuillan paid tribute to his counterparts in the Republic's Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) as "hugely successful" in their operations, adding that the CAB would be a model for his agency.

The main recourse to reclaim assets, said Mr McQuillan, would be through taxation or by suing crime chiefs.

He added: "We will be working very closely with partners throughout the criminal justice system – this isn't just about our agency.

"Some of these people will be very sophisticated and some of these people will not have hidden their money very well. I think that it will be a bit of a mixed bag. But we have very experienced people, we're recruiting people with a lot of experience in this field, we have got the best legal advice and we will pursue them wherever it takes us."

The agency's job is a daunting one as there is estimated to be around 80 organised crime groups active in Northern Ireland and about half of those are linked to paramilitary groups. Paramilitary groups are known to be involved in racketeering, drug dealing, protection rackets and prostitution.

Mr McQuillan said that whilst cooperation from the public was necessary, he recognised that "detailed" financial information would be hard to come by.

"If people have information we will be delighted to receive it, but the reality is that most people will not have the sort of information we will need," he said.

"We will need detailed information on people's finances and where they're getting the money and where they're putting the money."

He added: "This is a huge opportunity for Northern Ireland to help deal with the problem that destroys so many of our communities."

(GMcG)