IRA says it did not carry out Castlereagh raid

The IRA has officially denied any involvement in the recent break-in at Castlereagh police station in which sensitive intelligence files were stolen.

Speculation surrounding the theft had suggested that the IRA had stolen the files and had created a hit-list of potential assassination targets including senior Unionist and British Conservative politicians.

In a briefing this afternoon a spokesperson for the IRA leadership says that it has not broken its ceasefire and that the Castlereagh raid was the result of an ‘inside job’ carried out by British intelligence.

It accused the North’s police service of trying to create a smokescreen by arresting senior Republicans and making raids and seizing documents.

The IRA spokesperson stated that the ceasefire was still intact and that other groups were not fulfilling their commitments in a clear reference to the failure of loyalist paramilitaries to decommission arms.