RAAD order ten men out
Republican Action Against Drugs (RAAD) has said it has ordered ten Derry people to leave the north west immediately.
The vigilante group, which has been responsible for more than 20 shootings and bomb attacks across the north west in the last year, claimed all of those it has decided to “expel” for the city are involved in the drugs trade.
In a statement, the group named the individuals and ordered them to leave Derry “with immediate effect”. The move came as RAAD ended its so-called ‘amnesty’ for anyone involved in drug dealing to come forward to the organisation. It finished onTuesday. RAAD also claimed that 14 people have come forward to them and agreed to stop dealing in drugs.
“These people area now free to pursue their lives without fear,” the group said. However, they also issued a chilling warning to anyone still dealing drugs.
“A large number of death dealers have continued and will meet a deathly fate,” the RAAD statement said.
The group also threatened anyone caught falsely using its name. “Following a number of incidents in the Galliagh and Shantallow area which saw families being threatened we would like to state that anyone using RAAD or alluding to RAAD to commit criminal acts will be dealt with in the most severe manner possible,” it said.
RAAD also claimed responsibility for planting two bombs in the north west in the last week, including one in a Derry bar. “The first operation saw our volunteers place a device at a house in Springhill Park, Strabane as a warning to the owner to cease his drug activity. In the second operation, volunteers in Derry planted a powerful device in the Celtic Bar. This failed to deploy sucessfully but should be taken as a serious warning,” RAAD said.
The vigilante group also criticised the PSNI’s handling of the bomb alert in at the Stanley’s Walk bar.
“While RAAD take full responsibility for all its actions and their outcome, we feel we must censure local authorities who know all about the device from 2am but still failed to act,” the group claimed.
