The Five Demands

McCaugherty Paul giudicato colpevole alla Belfast Crown Court in un processo senza giuria

McCaugherty Paul, 43 anni di Lurgan, è stato dichiarato colpevole  di una serie di reati, primo dei quali di aver tentato di importare in nIrlanda del Nord, armi ed esplosivi in Irlanda del Nord da un commerciante di armi che in realtà era un agente del MI5 sotto copertura.
L’imputato è stato riconosciuto come n. 2 nella gerarchia del Real IRA.
Il processo è stato il primo in 20 anni in cui gli agenti dell’MI5 hanno testimoniato in un tribunale di Belfast.
L’operazione sotto copertura guidata dai servizi segreti, si è sviluppata tra l’agosto 2004 e il giugno 2006. L’obiettivo primario era quello di interrompere “la fornitura e il flusso di denaro per dissidenti repubblicani in Irlanda”, così come è stato dichiarato presso la Belfast Crown Court.
Dermot Declan Gregory, originario di Crossmaglen (contea di Armagh) è stato dichiarato colpevole degli stessi reati.

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Real IRA gun plot leader guilty (BBC News Northern Ireland)
A man on trial after an MI5 sting operation targeting a dissident republican gun smuggling plot has been found guilty by a judge in Belfast.
Paul McCaugherty of Beech Court, Lurgan was found guilty of attempting to import weapons and explosives from a dealer who was actually an MI5 agent.
The defendant had claimed to be second-in-command of the Real IRA.
The trial was the first for 20 years in which MI5 agents gave evidence in a Belfast court.
The prosecution claimed that during a two-year security services operation between August 2004 and June 2006, McCaugherty, calling himself “Tim”, handled money and negotiated deals with men he believed were able to procure weapons and explosives but were in fact agents.
The intention of the security service operation, Belfast Crown Court heard, was to “disrupt the supply and flow of money to dissident republicans in Ireland”.
During the operation, the prosecution said, McCaugherty met with an undercover operative called “Ali” on a number of occasions across Europe to discuss the supply of arms and munitions and their transportation.
McCaugherty was said to have handled over bundles of euros in a specially adapted bag telling “Ali” he needed “explosives, pistols, AK 47s, armour-piercing stuff, snipers, cords and detonators”.
He was also said to have described his organisation as “one of the heads of the same snake” and claimed that they had made the bomb used in Omagh, but they had given it to others who had “screwed it up”.
Armour-piercing equipment was needed, McCaugherty claimed, to target security force vehicles.