Al Jazeera investigation exposes paramilitary hitman linked to Turning Point UK

An Al Jazeera investigation has uncovered links between a right-wing student activist group in the UK and a convicted criminal who's a member of a banned organization. With anti-immigrant sentiment spreading, authorities are worried about an increase in the risk of violence on Britain's streets. We cannot name the reporter for their own protection. This is Alan Nesbitt, a convicted criminal with links to the Ulster Volunteer Force. a paramilitary group from Northern Ireland that UK authorities have designated as a terrorist organisation. He's negotiating a contract killing, with undercover Al Jazeera reporters posing as businessmen. It's usually half up front, half when the job gets done. Nesbitt provides details of how he's carried out killings before. Things have happened in the past, but it was too risky to do that. I've just pulled out a knife and just stabbed my death. We met him after an introduction from Jack Ross, the chief executive of Turning Point UK. The group is an independent offshoot of one of the most influential conservative organisations in the United States, States, Turning Point USA. Current and former members of the British Conservative Party have endorsed Turning Point UK, and Ross has had access to senior politicians, including former cabinet ministers and prime ministers. In public, he condemns political violence. The terrorists want to shut us down. They want to silence us with violence, and we're not going to give them the satisfaction. But in private, he appears quite comfortable discussing planned attacks. What do you want done? They can just kick the f**k out of someone, that's a certain amount. They can start cutting people's faces off, that's another amount. They can stab someone, they can shoot someone, they can kill someone. Nesbitt, his associate, has attended anti-immigration protests. He shows us weapons to prove how serious he is. You ready? I'm going to ring back things up. Boom. Yeah. Just so you know, so you know I don't talk s**t. Turning Point UK focuses on issues like immigration, with anti-migrant protests becoming a regular occurrence. currents across the UK. Experts are worried about this hidden link to a banned group. Firearms are simply tools that can be sold. They can be sold into people who have an hostility towards migrants and it wouldn't take an awful lot for those guns brought into the United Kingdom for one purpose to become available for another purpose. Then you've got yourself a really dangerous situation. We put our findings to all those featured in the programme. Jack Ross denied our findings completely, telling us that everything he said to our undercover reporter was not meant seriously. The other parties featured did not respond to our inquiries. Al Jazeera, Glasgow. Well, one of the people we've just heard from in that special report is Roy McComb. He's a former detective chief superintendent with the Northern Ireland Police Service and former deputy director of the UK National Crime Agency. Joining us from Belfast this hour, thanks so much for speaking to us once again. So having seen the documentary yourself, what stood out to you the most? Well, good morning. It's frightening how quickly people who represent paramilitary organizations can connect with other people who may be like minded and their willingness to use and offer up violence. And it's a really dangerous combination with people who have a long history of violence, such as the UVF in Northern Ireland, that now have connections in Scotland and across England as well, to connect with people who are interested perhaps in the right wing politics, the anti-immigration concerns that people may have. And that's a dangerous combination where people who are concerned about immigration want to vent that are now connected in with people who have a long history of violence. That's a really dangerous combination. How would you describe just how powerful the UVF linked crime gangs are today and how much of a threat do they actually pose to communities across the UK? Well, the UVF has a history principally within Northern Ireland. They have a small connection across Great Britain, primarily in Scotland, but also in the northwest of England. They do represent an existing continuing threat, particularly in Northern Ireland. A number of years ago, their numbers were assessed to be in the region of around 7,500. And more recently, the leadership of the UVF in Belfast was able to put a show of strength on the streets of Belfast. And several thousand members of the organisation were able to parade through the streets of Belfast. So they have an ability quite quickly to put large numbers of people onto the streets. They do have access to firearms. They still continue to pose a threat. And more recently, they have been connected into international organised crime groups, primarily for the purposes of smuggling drugs in. But anybody who knows how to smuggle narcotics into a country can just as readily smuggle firearms or explosives into the country. So as long as they exist, they pose a continuing threat to not only peace in Northern Ireland, but also to the febrile environment surrounding immigration in Britain. That's just it. I mean, at a time of rising tensions and continued anti-migrant protests across the UK, how dangerous are these links between far-right groups and figures associated with the UVF, like Alan Nesbitt? Well, they do pose a threat because you've got a sort of a dry tinder of people who are angry around uncontrolled immigration, as they see it. And then you have people who, on the other side of the UVF, who have the means and the ability and the history and the experience of using violence. And when you put the two together, they become sort of an agency of danger that can be called upon both for numbers, for protest purposes, but also for their organisation prowess and their ability to put, you know, greater danger onto the streets of Britain. So it is a very dangerous combination. And I'm sure that the authorities in Britain will be looking at those connections to see just how deep they go. I am aware that the director general of MI5 very recently talked about the dangers of extreme right wing organizations. And when you then add organizations such as the UVF to that mix, then you have the potential for even greater danger in the days ahead. As we've been hearing, there's a longstanding relationship between elements of the far right, the UVF and groups such as TPUK. But what does each side stand to gain from that relationship? How much of it is actually driven by shared political aims, or is it something else? There's very little crossover between the two. UVF historically is an organisation set up to defend the union, and yet organisations such as Turning Point UK is very much driven by its own agenda. It's not necessarily sharing the same values. I think there's probably a financial benefit. They probably see how they can benefit each other. They can promote each other's aims. They can gather membership. They can obtain additional funding legally or illegally. through their own activities. And they can show that they still exist. A famous statement some years ago by a leader of a Republican organisation made that statement that we haven't gone away. And I think being linked into something like Turning Point UK may be an opportunity for something like the UVF to say, well, we still can influence UK politics, albeit through a proxy such as Turning Point UK. We'll leave it there. Roy McComb, you're joining us from Belfast. Thank you so much for your time. Thank you.