PSNI say they have broken intelligence operation

The Police Service of Northern Ireland say they have broken a major IRA intelligence operation.

Acting deputy Chief Constable, Alan McQuillan, said that the discovery of the operation came about by police investigating the March 17 Castlereagh security base break in.

However McQuillan said that police intelligence did not show that the IRA intend using the information gathered in what he called an offensive way.

It appears that the IRA made approaches to a number of civil servants in an intelligence gathering operation.

He said the police investigation had taken the authorities to the heart of the provisional IRA and that 40 detectives are examining thousands of documents along with hundreds of computer discs.