RIR Scandal at Castlereagh

national | rights, freedoms and repression | news report

Thursday July 22, 2004 13:29

by Peadar O'Donnell

Castlereagh scandal could be as big as BrianNelson case

The latest Castlereagh scandal exposes yet again the collusion between British forces and loyalist paramilitaries.

Sinn Féin Assembly member for North Belfast Gerry Kelly led a party delegation to meet with the British Security Minister Ian Pearson yesterday. The meeting discussed the missing security dossier from Castlereagh which is said to contain the details of up to 400 people. 18 RIR members have since been stood down, as the British government investigates the incident, prompting claims of collusion with loyalists.

"It is feared that this document is now in the hands of loyalists," Kelly said. "To date nobody has been informed that their details are missing.
" At this mornings meeting I put a number of questions to Ian Pearson about this very serious matter. He confirmed that a document was missing. It was the only thing he confirmed.

"I asked him what the document contained - he said no comment
I asked him did it contain people's details - he said no comment
I asked him was it in the hands of loyalists and why people had not been informed - he said this was based on a PSNI assessment
I asked him about the media speculation - he said no comment.
I asked him what regiment the man arrested belonged to - he said no comment
I asked him was it the RIR - he said no comment.
Kelly added that he believes the emerging news constitutes a "potential scandal".
"I believe that the British are trying to suppress this story. It has only emerged through leaks. I think that a cover-up could well be under way and that if the truth emerges we could potentially be looking at a collusion scandal of Brian Nelson proportions."

While the involvement of the RIR would suggest that this story would merit greater media attention than the last Castlreagh raid, which left little evidence of anything, there has been little or nothing in most of the mainstream media in this regard.