Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
IRA ‘SUPERGRASS’ NOW IN WITNESS PROTECTION
Man allegedly spied for MI5 on dissidents
A “SUPERGRASS” who allegedly infiltrated dissident groups is now living under witness protection after his identity was revealed.
The individual, who has been named as an alleged informer for security forces gathering intelligence on the New IRA, disappeared from his home near Belfast shortly before the arrest of 10 suspects on terror offences last month.
Reports claim the man, who worked with New IRA political front party Saoradh, was an MI5 informer.
It is claimed he helped gather recordings of members of the terror group’s army council by arranging the location of meetings at rented houses in Co Tyrone in February and July.
Meanwhile, Saoradh have claimed the man is under police protection in a mystery location. The operation to infiltrate the New IRA– blamed for the murder of journalist Lyra Mckee as she observed a riot in Derry last year – was codenamed Operation Arbacia and involved MI5, the PSNI, Police Scotland and Garda Headquarters.
A man arrested at Heathrow Airport last month became the 10th person detained as part of the major operation against suspected dissidents.
Detectives from the PSNI detained the 62-year-old, who lives in Scotland, for questioning in Belfast. A property in the Blackhall area of Edinburgh was also searched by officers.
The authorities in Northern Ireland are expected to seek the extradition of the suspects allegedly infiltrated to face charges relating to terrorism.
The supergrass, believed to be in his late 50s and originally from Glasgow, is understood to have befriended the dissidents over the course of more than a decade.
Posting online in recent days, Saoradh said they were in constant contact with the man’s family after his alleged plot to “entrap republicans at the behest of the British government” in a “dirty snare”.
Meanwhile, media reports suggest the agent is believed to have saved the life of loyali st Johnny “Mad Dog ” Adair, who settled in Ayrshire after f leeing Belfast.
He was suspected of facilitating bugging of the homes of three dissidents, who were jailed in 2015 for plotting to kill Adair at his home.
PSNI Assistant Chief Constable Barbara Gray described Operation Arbacia as a “longer term” probe into “every aspect of the activities of the New IRA in its entirety”.