Posted on 03/09/2006 7:28:30 PM PST by 1066AD
Police raid farm of IRA 'chief of staff' By Tom Peterkin, Ireland Correspondent (Filed: 10/03/2006)
The farm owned by the man suspected of being the Provisional IRA's chief of staff was raided yesterday in the largest police operation mounted against suspected organised crime on the Irish border.
Thomas "Slab" Murphy's property, which is alleged to be at the heart of the IRA's smuggling empire, was among those searched by police, soldiers and customs officials.
Fuel tankers were driven from Murphy's farm after the raid More than 300 British and Irish police officers carried out raids simultaneously on both sides of the border.
Twelve vehicles were seized including three oil tankers as well as 8,000 litres of fuel, 30,000 cigarettes, and around £200,000 worth of cash in sterling and euros. Two shotguns and a fuel laundering unit were also found.
Computers and boxes of documents were confiscated to see if a paper trail will uncover attempts to launder money.
Orders were served on businesses in Crossmaglen and Newry requiring them to produce an audit of their financial dealings.
Two men and a woman were arrested and questioned after the raids involving Garda in Co Louth and the Police Service of Northern Ireland in south Armagh.
The two men were arrested after allegedly speeding through a checkpoint in Co Louth. A Republic of Ireland police helicopter helped officers intercept the men. Police declined to name the three, who are in their 50s and 60s.
Chief Supt Bobby Hunniford, of the PSNI, said: "This is a major cross-border operation that is part of a much wider investigation. It has been in the planning process for a considerable time."
For decades police and customs have struggled to shut down the lucrative fuel smuggling and laundering operations in south Armagh, which includes treating agricultural diesel and selling it to motorists.
The British and Irish armies backed up the police as they searched six properties including Murphy's farm, which straddles the border at Hackballscross in south Armagh, the IRA heartland nicknamed bandit country.
Murphy, 62, who has always insisted he has made an honest living, has been under surveillance by the security forces for three decades.
The bachelor and gaelic games enthusiast was regarded by MI5 as the single biggest domestic threat to the country but he has never been convicted.
He came to a wider prominence in 1998 when he lost an 11-year battle with The Sunday Times in which he unsuccessfully attempted to sue over claims that he was involved in bombing campaigns on mainland Britain.
In October last year, it was claimed that Murphy was linked to a £30 million property empire in Manchester and Cheshire and it is believed that yesterday's raid was connected to that allegation.
Then, Murphy's solicitor denied that the portfolio of 250 properties managed by the Manchester-based Craven Group was an outlet for IRA money laundering.
Later, the owners of Craven Group claimed it had been tricked into managing property for one of "Slab" Murphy's brothers, Frank Murphy.
Dermot Craven said he was unaware of the connection between the two men when he agreed to look after seven properties owned by Frank Murphy's company Sailor Property. Frank Murphy denied a link to the IRA.
Supt Kevin Donoghue, of the Garda, said the searches had found "no direct linkage" to the Manchester properties and last night a Craven Group spokesman said: "This has nothing to do with us. We have no idea what it is about."
Now there's a name for a trouble spot :)
My friends grandmother was very active in the IRA.....she said the world was a better place the day her grandmother died....the stories she has tell chill you to the bone....
Yes indeed. There's a reason a Belfast hospital is the world's best for repairing knee damage.
Rep. Peter King has ties to the Sien Fein/IRA crowd, (if I recall right, he even glorified them in a novel he wrote) maybe his contact man?
*Irish_Thatcherite jumping with joy*
That's what Slab Murphy deserves for organising a riot on Dublin's main thoroughfare!!!!
Very interesting how the two governments worked together on this one.
Yes, I wish they stop this 'peace process' nonsense - the two government could wipe Sinn Fein/IRA out in a matter of months!
*sigh* The Tories will have to get power in Britain, and Fine Gael will get power in Ireland before that has a chance of happening.
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