Two clergymen have been told the South East Antrim UDA has not issued threats against journalists or politicians, Julian O’Neill reports for BBC NI news.
Former Church of Ireland primate Alan Harper and Methodist minister Gary Mason asked “a trusted intermediary” to meet with the group’s leadership.
They acted after police recently contacted newspaper journalists and six politicians to warn of threats against them.
Several meetings took place in the past week.
A statement from the clergymen said: “The outcome of those meetings, relayed to the two clergy persons, is that there are no threats to any politicians or journalists from this grouping and that the threat did not emanate from them in the first place.”
The police do not discuss the nature or severity of any threats they become aware of.
At the time, one source said they were not considered “massively severe”.
The politicians contacted by the police were from all the main parties: Steve Aiken and Doug Beattie (UUP); Patsy McGlone (SDLP); Stephen Farry (Alliance); Linda Dillon (Sinn Fein) and David Hilditch (DUP).
They had condemned blanket threats made to journalists on the Sunday World and Sunday Life newspapers following stories about the South East Antrim UDA’s criminal activities.
Police have said members of the organisation are “steeped in drugs criminality.”
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