Safe houses no more?

The West of Scotland and Glasgow in particular was well-known for providing safe houses for Northern Irish terrorists. This was an agreement by both sides and is widely believed to be the reason Scotland escaped any significant terrorist activity during the Troubles, which is why this story caught my eye:

"A former loyalist gun-runner was stabbed to death in a vicious knife attack, police have confirmed.

Lindsay Robb suffered multiple wounds in an assault outside shops in the Ruchazie area of Glasgow on Hogmanay.

Police have appealed for witnesses to the incident in Gartloch Road to contact them.

Mr Robb, 38, had set up home in Airdrie after being released from prison in Northern Ireland under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.

Strathclyde Police said they have been "keeping an open mind" about the motive for the killing and said part of the inquiry involved looking at Mr Robb's connections with the Ulster Volunteer Force and Loyalist Volunteer Force.

They have refused to comment on reports that the father of two, who had a part-time job as a gardener, was carrying a large amount of money at the time of his death."

Couldn't happened to a nicer guy, this leading light of the "Progressive Unionist Party". I'm wondering what this means. The most likely explanation for the assassination - which police said was unlikely to have been a random unplanned attack, given the ferocity of the murder - was most probably related to current criminal activity, one would have thought. If not, it's an interesting and gruesome development because it means there ain't no safe houses in Scotland anymore.

"Officers have been questioning passers-by and have also been trying to find the murder weapon."

Yeah, well - good luck with that; you're gonna need it.