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commentsShot drugs dealer was RUC supergrass
Exclusive Greg Harkin
15 February 1998
The News of the World
A TOP drug dealer shot dead by self-styled republican vigilantes was an RUC informer who dodged police and Provos for years.
Brendan 'Bap' Campbell, 30, was murdered by the shadowy IRA-led group Direct Action Against Drugs as he climbed into his BMW.
Campbell's murder, outside a plush Belfast restaurant, came just a month after he was injured in another gun attack.
Two months earlier, he defiantly threw a grenade at Sinn Fein's Connolly House headquarters in west Belfast.
Now police sources have confirmed that Campbell nailed drug rivals by passing on information to newspapers and the RUC.
His tip-offs led to dozens of arrests and the seizure of cannabis, ecstasy, LSD and heroin worth millions of pounds.
An underworld source said: "If he fell out with anyone, he would ring police. He had no qualms about doing that.
"The RUC wanted to recruit him as a full-time informer, but that would have been impossible because Brendy couldn't keep his nose clean.
"He wanted the best of both worlds-money from drugs and putting other dealers behind bars."
Fearless
Two years ago, Campbell begged a High Court judge to revoke his bail and lock him up, fearing an IRA murder bid.
And, after his bungled grenade attack-it actually exploded outside a solicitors' office-he phoned the Sinn Fein office and boasted: "It's Brendan Campbell here. I did it. Come and get me if you can."
The source added: "Brendy was fearless. Nothing frightened him.
"If anyone crossed him, he spilled the beans on them. But those loyal to him were rewarded with riches.
"He knew it would be the end of him one day, but he didn't seem to care.
"His motto was to live life to the full while you have the chance-and that is exactly what he did."
Campbell cheated death an incredible FIVE times in previous gun attacks.
In January he walked to an ambulance after being shot in a south Belfast bar. He owed his life to a bullet-proof vest.
But last Monday night his attackers pumped six bullets into his head-and he died an hour later.
The battle to take over his drugs empire has already started, amid fears of a bloody criminal feud.
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Exclusive Greg Harkin
15 February 1998
The News of the World
A TOP drug dealer shot dead by self-styled republican vigilantes was an RUC informer who dodged police and Provos for years.
Brendan 'Bap' Campbell, 30, was murdered by the shadowy IRA-led group Direct Action Against Drugs as he climbed into his BMW.
Campbell's murder, outside a plush Belfast restaurant, came just a month after he was injured in another gun attack.
Two months earlier, he defiantly threw a grenade at Sinn Fein's Connolly House headquarters in west Belfast.
Now police sources have confirmed that Campbell nailed drug rivals by passing on information to newspapers and the RUC.
His tip-offs led to dozens of arrests and the seizure of cannabis, ecstasy, LSD and heroin worth millions of pounds.
An underworld source said: "If he fell out with anyone, he would ring police. He had no qualms about doing that.
"The RUC wanted to recruit him as a full-time informer, but that would have been impossible because Brendy couldn't keep his nose clean.
"He wanted the best of both worlds-money from drugs and putting other dealers behind bars."
Fearless
Two years ago, Campbell begged a High Court judge to revoke his bail and lock him up, fearing an IRA murder bid.
And, after his bungled grenade attack-it actually exploded outside a solicitors' office-he phoned the Sinn Fein office and boasted: "It's Brendan Campbell here. I did it. Come and get me if you can."
The source added: "Brendy was fearless. Nothing frightened him.
"If anyone crossed him, he spilled the beans on them. But those loyal to him were rewarded with riches.
"He knew it would be the end of him one day, but he didn't seem to care.
"His motto was to live life to the full while you have the chance-and that is exactly what he did."
Campbell cheated death an incredible FIVE times in previous gun attacks.
In January he walked to an ambulance after being shot in a south Belfast bar. He owed his life to a bullet-proof vest.
But last Monday night his attackers pumped six bullets into his head-and he died an hour later.
The battle to take over his drugs empire has already started, amid fears of a bloody criminal feud.
Labels:
Greg Harkin,
Informers,
IRA
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