ANGER OVER BRITISH ARMY HELICOPTER LANDING IN DUNDALK
AIRCRAFT TOUCHES DOWN AT CARROLL’S FACTORY IN THE EARLY HOURS AS CREW BLAMES LOW FUEL
A British Army helicopter landing in the grounds of PJ Carroll’s factory on the Dublin Road, Dundalk, is recorded by the tobacco company’s security cameras. The video is taken away by gardaí for examination.
Amid cries of protest from residents and politicians, the British Army maintains that a ‘navigational fault in bad weather’ causes the incident, an explanation which is being treated with disdain.
What is known is that the helicopter touches down at 1.23am on Thursday, 3 January, the time recorded on the footage. Gardaí are immediately alerted by Carroll’s security staff who don’t attempt to approach the aircraft.
Plainclothes officers arrive at the scene and ask the crew for an explanation, They are told an emergency landing is made because they are low on fuel.
Gardaí spot three armed uniformed soldiers and a man in civilian clothing in the helicopter. They tell the crew to leave as soon as possible. The helicopter takes off at 1.33am.
Speculation is rife about the landing so far south of the border.
Officially, gardaí are not prepared to engage in such speculation, but are concerned about the presence of a civilian in the helicopter which leads some people to believe he could be an agent who was about to be dropped off or picked up.
However, the video could answer some questions which remain.
Cllr Tom Bellew is watching television when he hears the ‘earth-shattering’ noise of the helicopter.
Outside, he sees the helicopter flying low. As it passes overhead, heading in the direction of Muirhevnamór, it is descending all the time. All that is showing on the craft is a navigational light on the tail but when it returns a short time later, flying northwards, all the lights are out.
‘It raises an awful lot of suspicions,’ Cllr Bellew says. ‘I would be very disturbed by the fact they are preared to do this sort of thing.’
He adds he can’t understand why the guards allow the helicopter to fly back again.
Deputy Dermot Ahern notes this happens on the back of the shooting by the British Army of an unarmed man in Cullyhanna, Co. Armagh.
‘I wonder what they are doing so far south of Dundalk in the middle of the night.’
He says the excuse of a navigational error in bad weather is the height of nonsense and shows arrogane.
Deputy Séamus Kirk says that coming after the shooting of Fergal Caraher in Cullyhanna the previous Sunday, many people are very angry at the latest incursion.
‘If the Special Branch came along and didn’t arrest them it’s disgraceful,’ remarks Cllr Miceál O’Donnell, chairman of Louth County Council.
‘ There is only one way of dealing with these people, arrest them, or tell them the next time they come across the border they will be blown out of the sky.’
Meanwhile, Deptuy Brendan McGahon does not accept there is anything ulterior or sinister about the landing.
‘If the British Army want to come south they could do so on a bus, or on bikes. There is nothing to stop them.’
He believes there has to be some rational explanation.