Distretto Nord

Agenti ignari del posto di blocco a Meigh

Officers not warned about ‘road block’

dshkA PSNI officer has warned of a serious breakdown in police intelligence after officers were allowed to drive into a dissident roadblock without prior warning.

Three masked men carrying rifles were seen stopping vehicles at Railway Road on the outskirts of Meigh in Co Armagh at about 9pm on Friday.

It is understood that a mobile police patrol had driven to within 100 metres of the illegal checkpoint before turning back.

Last night one PSNI officer based in south Armagh said that his colleagues were relieved to have escaped being attacked but were furious that they had received no prior warning of dissident activity in the area.

“We are getting vague briefings every day that terrorists are highly active around Newry and south Armagh,’’ he said.

“But surely someone in intelligence circles should be fit to warn us if illegal vehicle checkpoints are being carried out in our patrol area.

“There were only three gunmen on the road but there would have been at least a dozen in the fields and hedges.

“It doesn’t bear thinking about what would have happened if the officers had driven straight into the trap.”

The officer also spoke of frustration at police intelligence failure to locate a heavy calibre tripod-mounted machine gun, which is known to be in the hands of dissident republicans.

“We know the dissidents have a DShK machine gun and if they are out in daylight doing vehicle checkpoints then they would probably feel confident enough to bring out the big stuff and take us on,” he said.

“They must think the intelligence services have taken their eye off the ball and no doubt someone will have to be killed before the proper resources are brought in to sort this out.”

The Soviet-made DShK fires a 12.7mm round at a rate of more than 600 rounds a minute and is capable of piercing armoured vehicles.

A similar weapon was used to murder Constable Michael Marshall during a provisional IRA attack at Belleek village in Co Armagh in October 1989.

SDLP assembly member Dominic Bradley condemned the dissident activity as a propaganda stunt.

“This was an attempt by this group to make themselves relevant but most of the people in this area have no tolerance for that type of activity – they didn’t in the past and they certainly don’t now,” he said.

“This is an unwelcome development and harks back to a time which most people here have moved on from and want to leave firmly in the past.”

A PSNI spokesman confirmed that a police patrol had encountered a number of armed men illegally stopping vehicles.

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René Querin

Di professione grafico e web designer, sono appassionato di trekking e innamorato dell'Irlanda e della sua storia. Insieme ad Andrea Varacalli ho creato e gestisco Les Enfants Terribles.

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