Five arrests in INLA crackdown
Paramilitary Crime Task Force operation was biggest ever in NI
Last updated 14th Apr 2018
Five people have been arrested in what has been described as a '"significant" policing operation targeting the dissident republican paramilitary group, the INLA.
Three were detained under the Terrorism Act and a fourth on suspicion of Human Trafficking and Controlling Prostitution on Friday.
It forms part of the Paramilitary Crime Task Force's latest crackdown and is the biggest-ever operation of its type in Northern Ireland's history.
More than 200 police officers took part along with representatives from the National Crime Agency and Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs.
Twelve properties were searched in North, South and West Belfast, Lisburn, Crumlin and Newtownabbey.
Downtown & Cool FM Special Correspondent DAMIEN EDGAR was one of a small group of journalists who joined the PSNI and the PCTF.
Media were briefed on Friday morning on the scale of the dramatic sting against the nationalist paramilitary group.
Details were kept strictly private for the majority of the day, in order to avoid compromising the operation.
Heavily armed police joined teams for searches of 12 properties in north, south and west Belfast, Lisburn, Crumlin and Newtownabbey.
An alleged brothel was targeted in the Agincourt Avenue area of the Holylands.
The offices of the Irish Republican Socialist Party on the Falls Road were also the subject of searches later in the afternoon.
Party member Gerry Foster accused the PSNI of political policing:
"There's never been an illegal object found in that building over all the years that they've raided it and there'll be none found today," he said.
He added: "13/14 jeeps out here to raid one building and you're trying to tell me that that's not a publicity stunt?"
But the PSNI refuted those claims.
Assistant Chief Constable Stephen Martin said said they act on intelligence leads:
“The October 2015 Assessment of Paramilitary Groups in NI by PSNI and MI5 at the request of the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, stated very clearly that INLA’s structures remained in existence and that its members continued to be heavily involved in criminality including extortion, paramilitary style attacks and violent acts of intimidation against people allegedly involved in dealing drugs in communities.
"These activities were assessed to have a significant and negative impact on local communities and this made the INLA a priority for the PCTF.
“This search and arrest operation is the largest conducted by the Task Force to date and is the result of an investigation that has been under way for a significant period of time into the group’s criminality and specifically its involvement in extortion and prostitution," he said.
He added: "There has been a misconception in some quarters that the work of the Paramilitary Crime Task Force is focused only on loyalist paramilitaries.
"Today’s policing activity and a related operation in Derry/Londonderry in March, clearly demonstrate that our work is to remove paramilitarism from all our communities across Northern Ireland."
Assistant Chief Constable Martin, head of crime operations, appealed to business owners across Belfast to contact them:
"I’d like to take this opportunity to appeal to anyone who believes they or their business are the subject of extortion to contact officers at the Paramilitary Crime Task Force on our 101 non-emergency number.
"We want to hear from you and, as today’s action demonstrates, where we can secure evidence of these suspected offences, we will take action."
Mr Martin had a message for people carrying out criminal activity in Northern Ireland:
“There is not and will not be any hiding place for paramilitaries.
"These criminal gangs destroy people’s lives and harm our communities and we are committed to tackling them head on so that communities and businesses can prosper without any threat or fear.
“Paramilitaries exploit their own communities and others through various types of criminality, including extortion and prostitution, and they are ruthless in their methods including so-called paramilitary style attacks.
"They exploit vulnerability, including younger citizens who can so easily be drawn in.
"They destroy lives and harm the communities they so often claim to represent.
“The majority of people in our communities want to make the transition away from that sort of control and intimidation. This means that the response to the paramilitaries needs to fall to everyone," he said.
He added: “Information from the community is vital and I would appeal to anyone who can help us or who believes they may be a victim of extortion, or so-called protection money payment, to phone 101 and ask to speak to the Paramilitary Crime Task Force. Alternatively information can also be provided to the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 which is 100% anonymous and gives people the power to speak up and stop crime."