Thursday November 30 1995

Four arrested under PTA

FOUR PEOPLE from Ardoyne, Belfast were stopped and arrested at Heathrow Airport, on Wednesday, 22 November. They were returning from a holiday in the United States.

Eileen O'Halloran and three others were stopped as they boarded a connecting flight to Belfast.

Eileen O'Halloran takes up the story: ``As we approached the gate for the Belfast flight, two men in civilian clothes stepped out in front of us and demanded to know `which one of you is O'Halloran'?

``I identified myself and the men, who turned out to be Metropolitan police, demanded our passports and arrested the four of us, as `terrorist suspects' under the Prevention of Terrorism Act.''

O' Halloran said all four were body-searched and their luggage was also searched. ``They kept asking how we felt about the IRA cease-fire. At one point one of them became very abusive and shouted, `we'll have you all down the nick if you don't cooperate'.''

When the four were finally released and returned to Belfast they discovered that items were missing from their luggage. Presents, including sweatshirts, perfumes and toys were gone. The four are convinced they were stolen by police.

``We have given up on getting anything back. The airport say it is a `security matter' and we can't get any information on who these men actually were, although one suggested they were part of the Metropolitan Police Special Branch.''