Details have emerged of a new MI5 campaign of “administrative strangulation” amid a propaganda campaign intended to accentuate divisions among republicans.

It comes after a new report by the Westminster ‘Northern Ireland Affairs Committee’ revealed that the Six Counties account for nearly one fifth of MI5’s entire operational and investigative resources, operated from a building located deep inside the Palace Barracks complex outside Holywood, County Down (pictured).

One new tactic in the MI5 strategy, openly explained to readers as “political policing”, was published last weekend by the Sunday Times. Intended as psychological warfare, MI5 has recently been sending videos to activists via social media.

Friends and supporters of republican groups have been sent WhatsApp messages warning them to stay away from specific people “or face immediate financial and legal ruin”, according to the Times.

The newspaper’s sources in the British military admit using European police routinely to intercept and interrogate them at airports.

Jacqueline McClafferty, a member of the Irish Republican Prisoners Welfare Association, is one of those who have recently found themselves targeted by the strategy.

Returning to Belfast airport after a week’s holiday in Tenerife two weeks ago, she found 12 officers waiting for her on arrival. “I was held for an hour or so. They questioned me about who paid for the holiday before letting me go. They wanted to examine my phone but I didn’t have a phone with me,” McClafferty said.

She has also received WhatsApp messages urging her to change her ways or face financial consequences.

“I’m an Irish republican. I’m not a dissident,” she said. “This doesn’t dissuade me.”

Another Saoradh activist from Derry was recently subjected to detention and harassment while on a family holiday in Hungary.

The targeted individual was enjoying a social evening out with his family when he was approached and detained by Hungarian police and then subjected to extensive questioning regarding his family, friends and political associations. Hungarian police produced photographs of both the activist and individuals known to him, before informing him that they had received so-called “intelligence” from British ‘security services’ alleging that he posed a “national security threat”.

Saoradh said: “Let us be absolutely clear: this individual is not a member of any armed organisation and posed no threat whatsoever to Hungary or its people. His only “crime” is his adherence to Irish republican beliefs and his refusal to bend the knee to British political policing and intimidation.

“Despite this blatant attempt at harassment and intimidation, the activist remained steadfast, composed and unapologetic throughout. Saoradh commends his dignity and resilience in the face of yet another example of British state interference extending far beyond the borders of Ireland.

“Saoradh recognises that these types of incidents are becoming increasingly common for Irish republicans travelling abroad with their families. Time and again, republicans are being targeted, monitored and profiled at the behest of shadowy British intelligence agencies, particularly MI5, whose campaign against Irish republicanism continues unabated.”