Undercover operation was against republicans
By Mick Naughton.
IT HAS emerged that the British soldier who shot a
member of the RUC in Belfast last week was involved in
an undercover operation against republcans.
The woman soldier was part of a highly covert operation
by the British army's secretive 14th Intelligence Unit
against local republicans in north Belfast when the RUC
inwittingly stumbled on her in the early hours of
Wednesday 14 January.
Following a 90 mph car-chase she crashed her blue Rover
and then shot an RUC member in the chest, critically
injuring him.
Phoblacht can reveal that the soldier, who had black
hair and was wearing civilian clothes and glasses had
been spotted before the shooting parked at various
locations in Ardoyne and in nearby loyalist areas.
She was seen outside Glenard taxis beside the Shamrock
social club and she later parked in nearby Etna Drive,
Holmdene Gardens and Ladbrook Drive before returning to
Ardoyne Avenue where she took up a position outside the
taxi depot.
She was noticed three times at this location before
driving off towards the loyalist areas of Ballysillan,
Mount Vernon, and the Upper Crumlin Road. Other streets
she visited included that where human rights lawyer Pat
Finucane was shot dead by the UDA, acting on
information supplied by British intelligence agent
Brian Nelson. She cruised the North Circular Road,
Alliance Avenue and the Antrim and Cavehill Roads.
Unusually, at this time no RUC armoured vehicles were
in Ardoyne which they usually patrol on a 24 hour
basis. Six British army jeeps were positioned around
Ardoyne, two in Alliance Avenue, two in Rosapenna
Street and another two outside the Shamrock club.
But it was on the nearby Crumlin Road that the covert
operation went dramatically wrong.
As the undercover soldier drove citywards down the
Crumlin Road three unmarked RUC vehicles moved in close
behind her. She sped off reaching a speed of 90mph
before crashing at Carlisle Circus. One of the RUC
vehicles drove off while the others pulled alongside,
blocking her in.
One RUC man approached the passenger side of the
British army car and was shot in the chest. As his
driver got out, he too was shot at, narrowly escaping
injury.
At this juncture more RUC units arrived and fired into
the air. With around 12 armed RUC members surrounding
her, she threw her gun down and surrendered. Over 20
different RUC vehicles had by then arrived and she was
taken away. Some of those arriving were in civilian
clothing and identified themselves to the uniformed
RUC. These are believed to have been members of the RUC
undercover units, E4A, a shadowy detachment trained by
the SAS.
As we go to press it has made known that the undercover
female soldier has been returned to active service
after her commanding officer in the 14th Intelligence
Unit visited the hospital where the RUC member remains
with a bullet still lodged in his chest.
Challenging the RUC version of events, Sinn Fein
councillor Alex Maskey asked why, given their hi-tec
radio equipment, were the undercover soldier's
superiors unable to contact the RUC units involved in
the high speed chase that led to the shooting.
Calling on nationalists to be vigilant, Councillor
Maskey recalled that in the past British Military
Intelligence officers ran agents such as Brian Nelson
without the knowledge of the RUC or British army on the
ground.
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