Republican News · Thursday 12 December 2002

PSNI deny warning Rasharkin bar owner of attack

A bar owner in Rasharkin village in Country Antrim has called on the PSNI to "come clean" over a threat to his premises from unionist paramilitaries.

According to the bar owner, who wishes to remain anonymous, the PSNI told him to review his security and warned him of an imminent attack by Unionist paramilitaries. The PSNI refused to give the man any further information about the threat.

This was on 28 November and the bar owner contacted his solicitor.

However,An Phoblacht has since been told that when the man's solicitor contacted the PSNI, they told him they had no knowledge of any threat against the premises.

Speaking to An Phoblacht, Sinn Féin councillor for Ballymoney Philip McGuigan, whose family was targeted by unionist bombers recently, said: "I would echo the call from the owner of the bar to the PSNI to come clean over this threat. Unionist paramilitaries in the North Antrim area have been very active over the last 18 months to two years, so I wouldn't be surprised that they may be planning something. I would call on nationalists throughout the area to be vigilant in light of this situaton."

Man pressured to inform

The PSNI stand accused of yet another attempt to recruit a petty criminal to inform against his community.

Ruairi Reid, 23, from Rasharkin, North Antrim, was due in court on 12 November to answer charges of obstruction but failed to appear. He was then instructed to report to the Ballymoney PSNI barracks, where he was directed to a single officer who told him that "a blind eye" might be turned to the charge if he would become the PSNI's "eyes and ears" within the Rasharkin community.

Two weeks ago, Reid was called on his mobile phone and instructed to immediately meet with two plainclothes PSNI members in a local car park. As he sat in the unmarked car he says he was asked what he knew about several local republicans and their families and was told he should spend more time frequenting certain premises in order to gather further information. The meeting lasted approximately 45 minutes, he said, and at no time did the men involved produce any identification.

After the meeting Reid went to his local Sinn Féin office and told them what had happened.

This latest incident is just another in a long line of ongoing PSNI attempts to recruit local youths with criminal records to inform on their neighbours and communities. In exchange for information, young people have been promised a degree of immunity from arrest and or detention, leaving them free to continue their anti-social activities without fear of PSNI interference or prosecution. In a tellng telling indictment of PSNI priorities, actually enforcing the law and protecting innocent citizens continues to take a back seat to the criminalisation of republicans and the ongoing campaign of harassment.

At a press conference in Belfast on Thursday 5 December, Sinn Féin Ballymoney councillor Philip McGuigan and Belfast councillor Michael Browne sat alongside Reid and praised him for coming forward. Brown said the incident showed the PSNI were becoming "increasingly desperate" to recruit informers.