The Assets Recovery Agency, which targets those involved in organised crime across Northern Ireland, is beginning to have a major impact.
A number of recent ARA operations have resulted in significant seizures from individuals linked to both loyalist and republican paramilitary groups.
The latest investigation, directed against Colin Robert Armstrong, is regarded as financially the largest to reach the stage of a High Court interim receiving order so far.
Armstrong has been named in documents as a suspected international drug dealer who is allegedly connected to the Loyalist Volunteer Force.
Some properties worth almost £5 million on both sides of the Irish border and in the affluent Cote d'Azur in the south of France, have been placed under the control of the ARA.
It also eventually emerged that Armstrong was a former reserve officer with the RUC.
For many years, a wide range of people with no obvious source of income have enjoyed decadent, millionaire lifestyles in both the Protestant and Catholic districts of Northern Ireland.
If their wealth is derived from legitimate business activities then they can have nothing to fear.
However, if it transpires that they are unable to offer credible explanations for their sudden prosperity, then they can be reasonably sure that they will come to the attention of the ARA.
While obtaining criminal convictions is never easy, hitting suspects with serious financial penalties can often be equally effective.
The ARA is entitled to expect full public cooperation as it goes about its vital work.
