Colville Hogsett (41) and 25-year-old Gary William James Riddell are accused of blackmail and demanding stg£10,000 from a man in the Carrickfergus area.

George Campbell Kennedy (39) was charged with having a pistol and five rounds of ammunition in suspicious circumstances.

The three were detained by the organised crime unit investigating extortion in Carrickfergus, Co Antrim, which is suspected of being linked to the loyalist paramilitary Ulster Defence Association.

Meanwhile, in a separate case, a man was due to appear before a magistrate in Omagh, Co Tyrone, yesterday in connection with a major post office robbery in the North.

The man was charged late on Friday night in connection with the raid. It followed a major investigation by police in Strabane, Co Tyrone, where a five-figure sum was stolen after two women were kidnapped last October.

The 21-year-old man was accused of unlawful imprisonment, armed robbery, kidnapping and hijacking.