Recruitment attempt in England
BY MARTIN SPAIN
A West of Ireland man who has spent many years in England has complained to
An Phoblacht of a recent approach by British Intelligence, the second such
recruitment attempt in 18 months.
The first such overture took place when he was arrested at Luton Airport on
his way to his son's birthday party on 10 January, 1998, under the
Prevention of Terrorism Act. He was questioned as to his destination before
a man came in who identified himself as a member of British Intelligence:
``He said he wanted me to work for them, saying I could meet him every time
I came to England. When I refused to cooperate, I was taken to Charing
Cross holding centre where I was stripped and forced to the ground for an
anal exam. After two days, I was released without charge, having missed my
son's birthday.''
``About a month later, all my friends in Luton and throughout England were
arrested and questioned about me. One of them was asked to work for British
Intelligence. My son's mother, who is English, and her daughter were
visited by British Intelligence and left in a very distressed state.
Because of the things they said to them about me I had to get Gareth Peirce
to ring her and let her know that there was no truth in what they said to
her.''
On the most recent occasion, Thursday 3 June, the man was again visiting
his son. He borrowed a car in Luton to drive overnight to Cornwall. ``I
pulled into a remote service station to get petrol at 3.30am,'' he said. ``I
was filling the tank when a man approached me. He introduced himself as
Paul and said he was from British Intelligence. He said he wanted to speak
to me. When I refused and got into my car to leave, two cars blocked my
exit. The one calling himself Paul got out of one car and started to talk
at me through the windscreen. This went on for around 10 to 15 minutes,
then they let me out on the road, one car in front of me and the other in
the outside lane for about 20 miles. It was very frightening.''