Shankill bombing mastermind was RUC info
Posted By: January 25, 2016
Ardoyne IRA chief warned handlers about massacre
Allison Morris. Irishs News (Belfast). Monday, January 25, 2016
The IRA commander who planned the Shankill bombing was a police informant who had told his handlers of the plan to blow up Frizzell’s fish shop in 1993.
Classified documents stolen during the 2001 break-in at Castlereagh, and seen by The Irish News, show that the Provisionals’ Ardoyne leader at the time of the blast was working as an informant.
The former ‘blanketman’, now aged in his late fifties, was known as ‘Agent AA’ and calls made to his Special Branch handlers are logged throughout the documents stolen by the IRA during the raid at Special Branch offices.
The files stolen during the robbery on St Patrick’s Day almost 15 years ago were heavily encrypted and had to be deciphered by the IRA who used a handful of trusted members to decode the information.
The north Belfast man was ‘stood down’ by the organisation’s ruling ‘Army Council’ in 2002 after they pieced together the coded information and discovered that he had been working as a double agent for almost a decade.
However, The Irish News understands that although he was replaced by high-profile republican Eddie Copeland, no explanation was given to rank-and-file members as the leadership tried to keep the information under wraps.
The IRA man has managed to evade the spotlight for almost two decades despite leading the deadly Ardoyne unit of the paramilitary group during a period when they were involved in numerous shootings and bombings; the most high-profile of which, the 1993 Shankill bombing, led to the deaths of nine civilians, including two children.
The Police Ombudsman has been asked to investigate allegations that police were in possession of information that could have prevented the atrocity. The complaint has been made by a family member of one of the victims.
Allison Morris. Irishs News (Belfast). Monday, January 25, 2016
The IRA commander who planned the Shankill bombing was a police informant who had told his handlers of the plan to blow up Frizzell’s fish shop in 1993.
Classified documents stolen during the 2001 break-in at Castlereagh, and seen by The Irish News, show that the Provisionals’ Ardoyne leader at the time of the blast was working as an informant.
The former ‘blanketman’, now aged in his late fifties, was known as ‘Agent AA’ and calls made to his Special Branch handlers are logged throughout the documents stolen by the IRA during the raid at Special Branch offices.
The files stolen during the robbery on St Patrick’s Day almost 15 years ago were heavily encrypted and had to be deciphered by the IRA who used a handful of trusted members to decode the information.
The north Belfast man was ‘stood down’ by the organisation’s ruling ‘Army Council’ in 2002 after they pieced together the coded information and discovered that he had been working as a double agent for almost a decade.
However, The Irish News understands that although he was replaced by high-profile republican Eddie Copeland, no explanation was given to rank-and-file members as the leadership tried to keep the information under wraps.
The IRA man has managed to evade the spotlight for almost two decades despite leading the deadly Ardoyne unit of the paramilitary group during a period when they were involved in numerous shootings and bombings; the most high-profile of which, the 1993 Shankill bombing, led to the deaths of nine civilians, including two children.
The Police Ombudsman has been asked to investigate allegations that police were in possession of information that could have prevented the atrocity. The complaint has been made by a family member of one of the victims.
