Jim McCann

Jim McCann

• From Belfast, Northern Ireland
• Linked to Howard Marks - drug smuggler
• McCann named in Marks' autobiography
• "mixed with unsuspecting IRA men"
• Heyday was during the 1980s
• 1971: Escaped from Crumlin Road jail
• Petrol bombed Queen's University
• 1977: Arrested in France for extradition to Germany
• Allegedly bombed British Army base in Moenchengladbach.
• Case failed-protests by French political radicals
• Gardai caught him in Naas with nearly £100,000 worth of cannabis
• Freed on a technicality
• Last seen in Argentina

Jim McCann
Jim "Just call me the Shamrock Pimpernel" McCann is wanted all over the world for a variety of crimes, and is regarded as a colourful figure in the underworld.

The reformed cannabis smuggler Howard Marks wrote in his autobiography that McCann mixed with unsuspecting IRA men and Hollywood actors like James Coburn during his heyday in the 1980s.

McCann, originally from Belfast, in 1971 became the first man in decades to escape from Crumlin Road jail, where he was on remand for petrol-bombing Queen's University.

In the intervening period he linked up with international cannabis dealer Marks, while still trading on his reputation as a revolutionary. In 1977 he was arrested in France for extradition to Germany for allegedly bombing a British Army base in Moenchengladbach.

A subsequent case failed, thanks largely to protests by French political radicals. Next he turned up in Naas, when Gardai caught him with nearly £100,000 worth of cannabis. When arrested, he would only say: "My name is Mr Nobody. My address is The World."

McCann was later freed by the Garda on a technicality. He was last seen in Argentina.

Source:
On the run, but business booms for top criminals
Sunday, January 05, 2003
By Barry O'Kelly