“The position at the moment is that there are 40 individuals and 18 families who have been violently displaced from their homes,” he said. “They’re frightened and it is my job to resettle them as quickly as possible and bring normality back into their lives.” White said it was likely that the group would settle in Scotland, but they are also considering moving to England.

Despite rumours that the group was planning to flee to Malaga on Spain’s Costa del Crime, White insisted there would be no escape overseas.

“Wherever they settle, they want to be in the same area so they have a support network around them.” The group is now understood to be somewhere in Ayrshire. “Some of these people arrived in Scotland with nothing but the clothes on their backs,” White said. “They have little money and few resources. They are destitute and have to start with nothing.”

However, the Sunday Herald understands that Gina Adair was found with £70,000 in cash when she and three others were detained by Scottish police at Cairnryan under anti-terror laws. Sources say the cash was confiscated before she was freed and made her way to an Ayrshire hotel with White. UDA sources claim the 40 dissidents fled Belfast with a total of £3.2 million amassed from drug deals.