Criminal brothers who were among the East Belfast UVF’s biggest drug dealers face jail time after admitting to running a money-grubbing cocaine network.
Lenn Rainey (36) and Mark Rainey (42) appeared before the Belfast Crown Court on Friday to plead guilty to a range of charges, including involvement in the supply of cocaine and cannabis.
In the dock was 34-year-old William “Buff” Hunter – a UDA-affiliated drug dealer who pleaded guilty to the same charges.
The trio were arrested last August by officers from the Paramilitary Crime Task Force in what they say was an operation against the East Belfast UVF.
After this, the Rainey brothers were banned by the terror gang and told they would not be allowed into the loyalist wing of Maghaberry Prison.
Before that, they were among the largest drug dealers, selling cocaine — sourced from Dublin criminals and nationalist drug dealers in the Short Strand area — by the kilo.
“The Rainey brothers flooded East Belfast for years with cocaine and cannabis, and they did so protecting the UVF,” a loyalist source told Sunday Life.
“They only got into an argument with the UVF when it was revealed that they had collaborated with Buff Hunter and were also selling cocaine and cannabis. Buff, who is affiliated with the UDA, was their supplier.”
The Rainey brothers’ pleas will add to the pressure on the UVF in East Belfast, which has been shaken over the past year after a series of drug seizures by police.
Since May last year, the PSNI has recovered £1.2 million worth of drugs from the organization and nearly £200,000 in illicit money.
The alleged leader of the gang, veteran loyalist Stephen ‘Mackers’ Matthews, lost a High Court challenge to Sunday Life last weekend to avoid being named as the reported boss of the East Belfast UVF.
The fallout from this has led to longstanding UVF members opposing drug trafficking by renaming the UVF in East Belfast “the East Belfast drug cartel”.
Matthews denies any ties to crime, while UVF sources in East Belfast insist the Raineys no longer have ties to the terror group. They are also convinced that many of the drug attacks linked by the PSNI to the UVF in East Belfast do not involve the gang.
After brothers Glenn and Mark appeared in court last summer, a loyalist told us, “The Raineys have nothing to do with the UVF, nor will they be welcome on the loyalist wing of Maghaberry Prison.”
But the fact remains that the Paramilitary Crime Task Force has linked their cocaine trade and Buff Hunter’s to the East Belfast UVF.
The trio were first arrested in October 2020 after police investigations into Hunter’s home led to the discovery of an air rifle, legal highs, suspected cannabis and £3,000.
Around the same time, officers seized Mark Rainey’s phone, exposing extensive reports of cocaine and cannabis supplies.
All three were charged in August last year, and while testifying in court to a PSNI officer, said over the phone, “There was quite a bit of detail about the operation, who was transporting what and to where.”
He then went on to explain how another phone found in Glenn Rainey’s nightstand gave “a very comprehensive insight” into the drug stash.
The court heard that the police examined thousands of pages of transcribed messages, with the officer adding: “It (the mobile) provided detailed information about the traffic of drugs, money owed to, money owed from, delivery methods and even arguments between the co-defendants.”
Closer examination of the phones revealed threats made against people in debt to the Raineys, and how large amounts of drugs and cash were kept in safe houses outside their home addresses.
A prosecutor for the prosecution said at a later court hearing: “It is our business that these three men are part of an organized gang.”
Glenn Rainey, who is on remand, will appear before the Belfast Crown Court again on July 18 for an update on his case. Both Mark Rainey and Buff Hunter were released on bail until sentencing.
The Rainey brothers face further cocaine trafficking charges dating back to 2019 raids by the Paramilitary Crime Task Force, which broke up another suspected UVF drug trafficking network in eastern Belfast.
Glenn Rainey, along with four others, is also charged with the January 2019 murder of father-of-two Ian Ogle. He denies involvement in the UVF murder in East Belfast.
Their friend Buff Hunter is one of the largest drug dealers in Belfast and has longstanding ties to UDA factions in the north and east of the city, to whom he paid protection money. He has served two previous prison terms totaling 34 months for cocaine and cannabis trafficking – the first in 2014 for conspiracy to supply cocaine, and the second for supplying cocaine and possession of a 9mm pistol and ammunition.
Within days of being released from prison in December 2019, Hunter was back dealing drugs in north Belfast.
His release coincided with the West Belfast UDA taking over crime rackets in his native Tigers Bay.
The loyalist gang began to tax Hunter, who moved to East Belfast to avoid paying. While I’m there I formed an alliance with Glenn and Mark Rainey.
Sunday Life understands that other information on Mark Rainey’s phone is still under police investigation. This includes his list of cocaine customers, with a buyer suspected of being an on-duty police officer linked to a high-profile case.