Convicted smuggler Aidan Grew ordered to explain source of funds used to build Loughgall house

National Crime Agency (NCA) investigators mounted the successful application in a bid to obtain information from Aidan Grew.

In the first Unexplained Wealth Order (UWO) granted in Northern Ireland, the case relates to a house built on land at Grange Blundel Road, Loughgall.

The NCA is seeking to establish if proceedings from any criminal activity by 68-year-old Grew were used to help pay for its construction.

In 2008 he pleaded guilty to evading duty on millions of cigarettes recovered during a police and customs operation near Armagh City three years earlier.

Grew, formerly of Benburb Street in Blackwatertown but now believed to be living in Co Monaghan, was subsequently subjected to a £600,000 confiscation order.

Introduced in Northern Ireland under the Criminal Finances Act, UWOs compel those suspected of involvement in serious criminality to explain the origin of assets which appear to be disproportionate to their known income.

The NCA probe centred on the Grew’s alleged holding in the property and unaccounted for construction costs of approximately £70,000.

In an affidavit from 2015, Grew stated that he worked in the mining industry until becoming unemployed around 2007.

His only declared source of income since 2008 was sickness benefit, the court heard.

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Ruling on the NCA application, Mr Justice Rooney said there were reasonable grounds to believe that Grew and his wife Nuala retained a beneficial interest in the property.

He agreed to grant the order after setting out the Agency’s claims that Aidan Grew has been involved in serious criminal activity over many years.

“The aim of the measure, namely the application for a UWO, is intended to improve the State’s capability to combat, investigate and, where appropriate, to recover the proceeds of crime. This is clearly a legitimate aim,” the judge said.

“In my view, the terms of the order are limited and proportionate and would enable the NCA to determine whether to commence civil recovery or other proceedings.”