Top gardaí 'approved explosives drop'

Senior gardaí cleared the way for Adrienne McGlinchey to leave 60 kilos of home-made explosives, intended for an IRA attack on a RUC base, close the border without being challenged or arrested, the Morris Tribunal today heard.

Ms McGlinchey’s then handler, Detective Garda Noel McMahon, told the corruption probe that the go-ahead for the 1994 operation was given by senior garda officers at a specially-arranged meeting. And part of the deal was said to involve a high-ranking garda “acting drunk”.

The explosives, to be left by Ms McGlinchey in Bridgend, were to be used by the IRA for a terrorist strike on Derry’s Strand Road RUC base, Det McMahon added.

The currently suspended officer told the inquiry he sought immunity for Ms McGlinchey at her request and that he was keen for the ‘drop’ to happen if it meant IRA personnel who collected the explosives could be arrested.

Road checkpoints were put in place to make certain the explosives did not actually get into Northern Ireland.

Det McMahon reported relaying Ms McGlinchey’s request to his supervisor, the then-Detective Inspector Lennon, who got authority from senior officers.

Garda McMahon said: “The meeting discussed the promise that Ms McGlinchey would not be arrested but be guaranteed to make the drop and leave, regardless of the fact that she was carrying HME (home-made explosives).”

He later told Ms McGlinchey the guarantee had been given and that senior Donegal garda officer Detective Superintendent Denis Fitzpatrick would be in the area of the drop “wearing a cap and acting as a drunk man”.

The incident ended when Ms McGlinchey and her friend Yvonne Devine took a taxi towards the border and then dumped their package over a wall.

The gardaí later recovered 60 kilos of explosive components and no arrests were ever made.

Detective Garda McMahon is one of two detectives alleged, together with Ms McGlinchey, to have prepared explosives that were later used in bogus Garda arms finds in Co Donegal during the 1990s.

Both Garda McMahon and the second implicated officer, Detective Superintendent Kevin Lennon – both of whom are suspended from duty – have denied the allegations, and Ms McGlinchey has persistently refuted suggestions that she was ever an informer or a member of the IRA.