The assets of a south Armagh man, who was accused in the House of Commons of being one of the IRA's most ruthless members, has had his assets seized by the Serious Organised Crime Agency.
SOCA has been granted a court order to take control of properties and bank accounts belonging to Sean Gerard Hughes of Aghadavoyle Road, Drumintee.
East Belfast DUP MP and now party leader Peter Robinson used parliamentary privilege in December 2002 to link Hughes to the South Quay bombing at London's Canary Wharf in 1996, which killed two people and brought the previous IRA ceasefire to an end.
Sean Hughes has denied being a member of the IRA Army Council.
The agency claimed the assets came from laundering the proceeds of mortgage fraud, tax evasion and benefit fraud.
The assets frozen include eight houses in south Armagh, an apartment in south Belfast, the proceeds of the sale of three other houses in south Armagh and a number of bank accounts.
The agency has also taken control of assets belonging to 10 other people in the south Armagh area, including Mr Hughes wife, Annette.
But Sinn Fein MP Conor Murphy has hit out at SOCA and criticised the decision to stage police raids at the south Armagh properties.
"Sean Hughes is a sound republican. He has spent his entire adult life engaged in the struggle for Irish unity and independence," said Mr Murphy.
"He has championed the peace process and the campaign to end political policing. There have been numerous attempts over the years to smear Sean's character."
He added: "The raids today on Sean's home and those of a number of his relatives have caused deep anger in south Armagh. There is no justification for the deliberate targeting of Sean and his family today.
"Sean has been charged with nothing. Neither have any members of his family. It is unacceptable."
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