Republican News · Thursday 31 January 2002

Branch-gate

BY LAURA FRIEL

The raiders passed through a security checkpoint staffed by an armed guard, gained entry to rooms secured by coded keypads and opened secure cabinets. They knew what they were looking for and they knew where to look.

Castlereagh, the Special Branch's notorious interrogation centre, is ringed by 20-metre steel fencing, with watchtowers and floodlights and deemed impenetrable. Inside, a network of elaborate security systems has been designed to protect some of the northern state's most dangerous secrets.

Clearly operating with an insider's knowledge, the raiders struck within the very heartland of Special Branch covert operations. They targeted an office where the Special Branch runs its network of informers and agents, an important nerve centre for British military intelligence and inner sanctum of counter insurgency plots and ploys.

According to reports, having already breached the outer security cordon, three unmasked men entered the first floor Special Branch office between 10pm and 11pm on Sunday night. One of the men had an English accent. A Special Branch officer on the premises at the time was subsequently bound and gagged.

The men would have had to produce identification at the perimeter barrier, at the door and a security pass for rooms inside. The gang gained access to secret files and removed a number of documents, described as 'highly sensitive'. It is not known if the gang made copies of any other material. They were certainly on the premises long enough to have downloaded information from computers.

The three men entered and left the complex without being challenged.

A PSNI source within Castlereagh has admitted the raid must have involved "someone closely connected to us". And not just 'close'; even within the Special Branch not every officer would have had specific knowledge to access the security systems protecting the most 'sensitive' material.

"I have worked with the Special Branch for 30 years," a former RUC officer admitted, "and I wouldn't know how to do this kind of thing."

One of the key reasons why the PSNI remains unacceptable to most nationalists is the failure of the British government to curtail the power of the Special Branch. British Military Intelligence introduced guidelines giving Special Branch primacy within the force. Through the Special Branch, MI5 controlled the RUC.

The ruthless manner with which Special Branch operates has recently been highlighted by a number of former RUC officers. RUC Detective Johnston Brown challenged a Special Branch decision not to pursue a self-confessed loyalist killer and was subsequently subjected to death threats and threats of plots against his son.

Commenting on the Castlereagh raid, Sinn Féin Assembly Chief Whip Alex Maskey called for an immediate independent investigation and said the Ombudsman's Office should carry out a thorough investigation.

"Castlereagh has been the centre of Special Branch operations in the Six counties for 30 years," he said. "It is from Castlereagh that shoot-to-kill operations, the collusion with loyalists and the torture of people was directed."

Describing Castlereagh as "probably the most secure barracks in Europe", Maskey rubbished the break-in theory.

"We are asked to believe that the offices at the very centre of this fortress were raided, files were removed and the people involved were not seen and no one knows how or why this happened. This could not have happened without the sanction of senior figures within the Special Branch or British Intelligence."

Claims by Chief Constable and former head of Special Branch, Ronnie Flanagan that documents seized by the gang do not contain the names of Special Branch agents and are not related to ongoing investigations may be little more than a pedantic smokescreen.

Significantly Flanagan failed to confirm that no details concerning Special Branch agents were contained within the missing documents. Similarly the status of an investigation can be other that ongoing.

Consider recent revelations concerning Crown forces collusion in the attempted murder of three RUC officers in Cushendall and the subsequent killing of RUC Sergeant Joe Campbell in 1977. The Ombudsman's Office has been approached but an investigation has yet to be initiated.

Meanwhile, it has been revealed that the Stevens team investigating the assassination of Pat Finucane has uncovered evidence that the Special Branch gave guns to loyalist killers.

Forensic tests have shown that a Special Branch officer gave a weapon to a known loyalist killer that was later used in the killings of six Catholics. Relatives of those killed will be informed.

The Special Branch has already confirmed the leak, which is expected to be included in a report schedule to be handed over to the PSNI by the Stevens team in May. The Special Branch will claim that the incident was 'isolated' and the result of a 'blunder' but one source has already described the revelation as "the tip of the iceberg."

The news broke as figures showing that of 20,000 official complaints made against the RUC in the last six years only nine officers have been successfully prosecuted. Over 6,000 files were sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions arising out of the complaints.

Of 24 recommended for prosecution, two officers have been found guilty and jailed, one has received a suspended sentence, six have been fined, one case is pending and 14 officers have been found not guilty.

"These figures show that the DPP and the judicial system are incapable of policing the police," said Sinn Féin's Gerry Kelly. "It backs up what nationalists have always believed. The RUC/PSNI are above the law, regardless of what crimes they have committed."