A leading loyalist paramilitary figure has been found dead in north Belfast.
Ihab Shoukri was found dead this morning at a house in the Grainon Way area of Newtownabbey.
The police said they are investigating the incident, but said there are no suspicious circumstances.
Earlier this year the 34-year-old pleaded guilty to being a member of the loyalist paramilitary Ulster Defence Association (UDA).
Shoukri and five other men were arrested at a bar in March 2006 where they were accused of rehearsing for a UDA show of strength.
The notorious loyalist leader played a prominent role in a vicious terrorist campaign and racketeering operation.
Ihab Shoukri and his brother Andre — sons of an Egyptian father and Irish mother — were regularly identified in the media as being leading loyalists.
In June it emerged that while Ihab was sentenced to 15 months behind bars for his part in a paramilitary show of strength at the Alexandra Bar in north Belfast, he would be free within two months after time already served on remand was taken off the sentence.
Nationalist politicians were critical of the sentencing after the judge in the case said Shoukri only escaped a longer jail term because of progress in the peace process.
It was reported at the time that the sentence was to be challenged.
PA