Dissident republicans smuggling guns to Britain, claims O’Dea

DISSIDENT republican paramilitaries are fuelling gun crime on the streets of Britain by smuggling weapons from Ireland to sell to gangs, Justice Minister Willie O’Dea claimed yesterday.

Mr O’Dea said elements of the Real IRA and Continuity IRA appeared to be in contact with gangs in English cities such as Manchester.

He said that guns were being smuggled from the Limerick area, which was recently flooded with weapons as the dissident groups got involved in a feud between criminal gangs fighting for control of the drugs trade.

In an interview broadcast on BBC Radio 4’s File on 4 yesterday, Mr O’Dea said: “Some of the people who are involved in crime in the Limerick area have also got a base in the UK in and around Manchester and various cities around the UK.

“The reports I have heard and what I have seen would indicate that these people travel between Ireland and the UK and are involved in various kinds of smuggling, smuggling drugs, smuggling guns.”

File on 4 said that a source in the National Criminal Intelligence Service had confirmed it was aware of “a few incidents” of weapons smuggling by dissident paramilitaries.

But Deputy Chief Constable Alan Green of Greater Manchester Police said he had “no evidence” to support allegations that guns were being smuggled into the city from paramilitaries in Ireland. He and Assistant Chief Constable Dave Whatton had met with the BBC on two occasions to discuss gun related crime, he said.

“On both occasions it was explained we had previously received one report that suggested this but after full investigation the claim was uncorroborated,” Mr Green said.

“We have no evidence to support these allegations and contact with the National Criminal Intelligence Service has confirmed our findings.”

A spokeswoman for NCIS later said it was aware of guns being smuggled into Britain from Ireland but it was only a small part of a bigger problem.

“We can confirm we do have intelligence of weapons being trafficked between the UK and the Irish Republic,” she said.

Earlier, File on 4 reporter Allan Urry said it was difficult to estimate the size of the problem. He told the Today programme: “We are not able to say if this is a major supply route, but it is clear that there is a lot of shootings around British cities and it is clear from information we’ve had from both Manchester and Birmingham that guns are getting through from across the water.”