MI5 targeting young people in Fermanagh

The 32 County Sovereignty Movement has said it has been made aware of more approaches by MI5/Special branch who have been actively targeting “vulnerable” members of society in an attempt to recruit them as informers.

The group said a young woman who was being treated for emotional and psychological issues had been “deliberately targeted” in Fermanagh due to her condition and asked for information on Donegal men she knew.

The woman, who does not wish to be identified, issued a statement to the media to describe the approach.

“I was stopped on the Kesh Road on the way to the hairdressers on my own about 8 weeks ago.

“When I approached a checkpoint the cops said ‘this is no ordinary traffic stop, we are here waiting for you especially. This is to do with dissident republican activity’.

“And I asked what’s it got to do with me then?

“He said I could help them with information on my husband and two other Donegal men.

“I told them I hadn’t a clue what they were talking about and he said, ‘oh, I think you do, the people you’re going to this wedding with are dangerous men.’”

He told me he was going to put my husband away for a long time and I would need their help then. He pulled out a wad of money and said ‘we can help you’.

“He even offered to pay for the hairdo which he knew I was going for without me telling him. I said I wanted nothing to do with it.

“They asked me could I spare ten minutes to go away with them and they would take of uniforms to make me more comfortable. I told them no chance so he gave me his card with phone number and asked me to go to the phone box outside hairdressers and ring him. He would be watching for me.”

Terrified, she went directly home. Three weeks later she got a phone call from a man who identified himself as the man on the Kesh Road.

“I hung up on him. He rang again one week later and told me he could help me as it was coming up to Christmas. I hung up again, since then I’ve had 5 missed calls and a text saying. Offer still stands... if you want, we can help you.”

The incident is one of at least two reported approaches to young people in Fermanagh in recent weeks. The 32CSM said another republican, the target of frequent police searches and questioning, was detained at Belfast airport en route to England to visit relatives when he was asked to gather information against certain individuals in the community, and warned that he would be arrested if he failed to comply.

“The tactics of the British crown forces increasing appear to be the active targeting of families and other innocents and should be condemned by all,” the 32CSM said.

“We would also ask that if anyone is approached by these shadowy agencies to immediately contact a representative of the 32CSM, the media and legal representation.”

Urgent Appeal