A notorious Loyalist leader has died after a suspected drug overdose.

Former UDA leader Ihab Shoukri, 34, was found dead at a house in Belfast in the early hours of Sunday morning.

It is understood he had spent the hours before his death taking a cocktail of cocaine and other drugs.

In recent years the notorious Loyalist and his brother Andre were rarely out of the media headlines. However, the Shoukris were an unusual spectacle as Loyalist hardmen.

The sons of an Egyptian father and an Irish mother, the Shoukris had risen through the ranks of the Ulster Defense Association (UDA) under the guidance of one time Loyalist Johnny "Mad Dog" Adair.

However, when Adair began a bitter feud with the rest of the UDA in 2003 the Shoukris chose to side against their former ally.

Their loyalty to the mainstream UDA was rewarded after Adair was ousted with them being given the organization's north Belfast "brigade" to run.

Under the leadership of the Shoukris the North Belfast UDA was responsible for a series of sectarian murders.

However, in 2007 the Shoukris themselves fell foul of the mainstream UDA after growing public criticism of the brothers' chronic gambling and drug addictions.

In 2004 Ihab Shoukri had been charged in connection with the murder of a former UDA associate Alan McCullough, who he had lured to an isolated farm outside Belfast and shot dead before burying his body in a shallow pit. The charges against Ihab Shoukri were later dropped due to a lack of forensic evidence.

Shoukri had been among UDA leaders who had regularly met with senior British and Irish government ministers. But despite being wined and dined by government ministers, Ihab Shoukri could not stop his involvement in crime.

In 2006 he was arrested inside a north Belfast bar where masked and armed UDA men had been preparing to hold a "show of strength."

Shoukri was already on bail at the time, waiting to stand trial for membership of the outlawed UDA.

During a search of the bar police found a UDA statement written in Shoukri's own handwriting.

In November 2007 Ihab Shoukri took over the leadership of the North Belfast UDA from his brother Andre, who was beginning a 10 year jail term for extortion, blackmail and threats to kill.

However, within weeks the Shoukris and their supporters had been ousted by the mainstream UDA and forced to flee Belfast.

Earlier this year Ihab Shoukri was sentenced to 15 months behind bars for UDA membership, but was back on the streets within weeks, having previously served the majority of his sentence while on remand.

However by then Shoukris' growing addiction to drugs, particularly heroin, had already taken hold.

In the hours before his death he is understood to have taken both heroin substitutes and snorted cocaine.

He is believed to have died of asphyxiation, having choked on his own vomit after taking a fit brought on by excessive drug use.

Protestant community leaders, who had campaigned against Shoukri's drug dealing, shed few tears after his death.

Baroness May Blood, who has spent decades working in Loyalist communities, said Shoukri left a legacy of shattered lives behind him.

"I am sad to hear a young man has lost his life, but the first thought that came to my mind was those who live by the sword die by it," she said.

"This guy put drugs into the community for years and years and destroyed so many lives."