Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
MI6 SANTA PONSA ARMS STING TARGETED DUFFY
Court told accused wanted semtex, rockets and rifles
UNDERCOVER MI6 agents spoke to an alleged terror boss about obtaining weapons as he holidayed in Spain, a court heard yesterday.
The claim emerged during the trial of three men allegedly secretly recorded discussing a failed murder bid on police in December 2013.
That trial was told of other secret recordings involving one of the men in Santa Ponsa four months earlier.
These recordings, said by prosecutors to be of Colin Francis Duffy, 52, allegedly have him attempting to set-up an arms deal with an agents posing as an East European businessman and his girlfriend in Majorca in August 2013.
Prosecutors claim this provided a “sinister context” in which it’s alleged Duffy showed a “preparedness, in seeking to obtain weapons and explosives”.
Mr Justice O’hara, hearing the Diplock-style case at Belfast Crown Court, was also told the recordings, although circumstantial evidence, “directly supports the charges of membership and directing terrorism”.
The court heard the agents befriended Duffy after asking for a light.
Prosecutors claimed after hearing the man, who’d talked of fighting in Bosnia, say he had “tanks” in reply to a question if he had a yacht, Duffy asked if he could get “anything other than tanks”. He was told getting the materials was not hard, “the difficulty was transport”.
Duffy allegedly said he could arrange shipment, and was also allegedly taped asking about the explosives C4 and Semtex, while complaining of having to use “fertilizer-based stuff ”.
The lawyer also claimed he asked about the possible supply of RPG rockets, detonators, AK47 rifles, while also discussing Russian rifles and if they could penetrate flack jackets, and for about £200,000 to £250,000 equipment “could be supplied in small batches”. Duffy also allegedly talked about difficulties he might have in travelling outside Ireland, as he was “not invisible, that he was red hot”.
He was “confident he could come to Europe under the radar”, to arrange, finalise an arms deal. Duffy is on trial with Harry Joseph Fitzsimmons, 51, and 58-year-old Alex Mccrory, on the membership, or purporting to be IRA members, and to directing terrorism.
Their addresses cannot be reported by the media.
Fitzsimmons and Mccrory are also charged separately, and deny attempting to murder police in the Ardoyne, North Belfast, and possessing the two AK47 rifles and bullets used in the attack.
At hearing.