A group calling itself Crumlin Action Against Drugs has issued a death threat against three men and warned five others of "serious consequences" if they don't stop their alleged criminal activities.
In a statement, the group accused eight named men of drug-dealing and engaging in a range of anti-social activities against residents in the Co Antrim village.
It ordered three of them to leave the area immediately or "face execution" and it said that the other five men, including a father and son, should "desist from drug dealing, housebreaking and anti-social activity forthwith or we will deal with them".
Those under threat range in ages from their 20s to their 40s. Crumlin Action Against Drugs said it was made up of "former republican prisoners disillusioned with the peace process".
It stated that it was entirely separate from the Belfast-based group, Action Against Drugs, which the PSNI claims was involved with Provisional IRA members in the murder of Kevin McGuigan.
Two of the men under threat of death from Crumlin Action Against Drugs are former associates of Kieran McManus who was shot dead at a pizza shop in west Belfast two years ago.
McManus, a 26-year-old father of one, was gunned down outside Domino's in Kennedy Way where he was working as a delivery driver.
A masked gunman called him by name before shooting him twice in the back at close range in March 2013. The murder was linked to a fight in Turf Lodge three years earlier in which a man was seriously injured with a machete.
Kieran McManus was initially charged with attempted murder but that charge was dropped. He received an 18-month suspended sentence on more minor charges relating to the machete incident.
He was put out of west Belfast by dissident republicans after the fight. A car belonging to him was burned out just weeks before his death.
In its statement, Crumlin Action Against Drugs claimed that two of Kieran McManus's former close associates, along with a third man, were leading a gang dealing in heroin, cocaine, and 'skunk' cannabis.
The self-styled republican vigilante group accused the named men of threatening "innocent members of the community in Crumlin" and of assaulting an ex-republican prisoner who had challenged them.
The statement said: "These individuals are not only involved in bringing drugs into our community, they have carried out burglaries and threatened violence against women.
"They threatened a mother of five with a pair of scissors last week. They also threatened a pregnant woman and threw beer bottles at her. When an ex-republican prisoner challenged them, they set upon him with knives and screw-drivers.
"There are no depths to which these people will not sink. This behaviour will not be tolerated. We are ordering (the three named men) to leave Crumlin immediately or face execution.
"The others (five named men) must cease their activities forthwith or else we will take action against them. These people were ordered out of west Belfast by republicans. They now ply their evil trade in Crumlin. We will not stand idly by while they terrorise our community."
