Former IRA members in 'deadly' new terror group

Former IRA members in 'deadly' new terror group
John Mooney
10 July 2011
The Sunday Times

SECURITY services in Northern Ireland suspect that former members of the Provisional IRA have set up a terrorist organisation funded by a global smuggling operation.

The paramilitaries, said to number about 150, include gunmen and bombmakers, but senior police officers say there may be hundreds more sympathisers providing support. The group, which is centred on former IRA members from West Belfast and mid-Ulster, is believed to pose a serious threat. To avoid infiltration by spies, it is understood to be handpicking terrorists who have already carried out attacks or proven their credentials.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) and MI5, the British intelligence service, have dedicated extra resources to fighting the fledgling group's activities. It is believed to be reconnoitering targets, intelligence gathering and importing weapons, and it is feared it has the potential to become more dangerous than the Real IRA, the Continuity IRA or Oglaigh na hEireann.

There has been an upsurge in republican terrorism. In April, republican dissidents murdered Ronan Kerr, a Catholic member of the PSNI, by planting a bomb under his car in Omagh, Co Tyrone.

MI5 is trying to recruit informants to provide details on the group's activities and members. Peter McCaughey, a republican activist from Dungannon in Co Tyrone, was approached last month by the British security service during a visit to Dubai.

"I know a lot of republicans and what they do is their own business. I don't ask them. I hear rumours about a new IRA but it has nothing to do with me," he said, adding that he does not support any republican paramilitary group or endorse violence.

McCaughey, whose brother Martin, 23, was shot dead in 1990 by the SAS at a remote farmhouse near Loughgall, Co Armagh, was approached by two MI5 agents in the lobby of a Dubai hotel last month.

He said the agents promised to prevent the British Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) from proceeding with an investigation into his wealth if he agreed to work as a spy. He refused and was last week notified that he was under investigation by SOCA.

McCaughey said after the approach he flew back to Ireland via Birmingham where he was stopped for questioning by immigration officers, who took him to a room where he was confronted by MI5. His solicitor is to lodge a complaint to the Investigatory Powers Tribunal, a British body which oversees the intelligence services.

At least two republican hardliners with links to the new group have been targeted in similar operations by the British security services.

Garda headquarters are also monitoring activities south of the border. "This faction have put out feelers everywhere. They are not interested in the other dissident groups.

"Their modus operandi is best described as one which involves smoke and mirrors. They have carried out operations in places like Tyrone, with the express intention of making it look like the work of another paramilitary outfit," said one garda source.