MI5 men attempt to enter vehicle

A member of Republican Sinn Fein in North Armagh has said he believes two men who tried to force their way into his car recently were members of British military intelligence.

The man, who did not wish to be named, said he was stopped and approached while driving in his car with his young child. He was near Portadown when he was followed by a member of the PSNI on a bike and then pulled over.

He had given the PSNI man his licence when he noticed two men come from behind and run up to his car, one on each side.

“One of them tried to enter the car by the passenger side which was locked so he rushed round to the driver side,” he said.

“At this stage I was trying to put the windows up but he kept grabbing it, pulling it down, saying we only want a minute of your time. I told them to go away. I was not interested in speaking to them. One was holding my licence.

“I asked for my licence back to which he replied that I needed ‘to get my address on it changed over’ and would I hear them out ‘for one minute’.”

He then told them to keep the licence and pulled the car back onto the main road away from the men, but he was still followed by the PSNI as far as Portadown.

“I had a child in the car with me, but thankfully the child slept through it all.”

Daire Mac Cionnaith, Vice President of Republican Sinn Fein and member of the Thomas Harte Cumann, said in a statement that this latest approach was a sinister development, and it was not the first attempt by the British intelligence to recruit that man as an informer.

“The Republican and Nationalist community in British Occupied Ireland need to be cautious and withstand these attempts.”

He said the PSNI was being used as “a stalking horse” for British Intelligence, and that there had been many attempts by the PSNI to recruit informers in the North Armagh area.

“We urge all people to report similar attempts to Republican Sinn Fein immediately,” he added.

Urgent Appeal