RUC SMASH CROSS-BORDER DRUGS RING
LINKED TO EX-PROVO ACTIVISTS

A Cross-border, drug smuggling operation, run by former IRA activists,
was smashed last night when the RUC arrested a Munster man in
possession of over pounds 200,000 worth of ecstasy.

The former Provisional IRA member was arrested in Belfast with more
than pounds 200,000 worth of ecstasy tablets which he was preparing to
smuggle South of the border.

Armed RUC officers arrested the Corkman as a result of a surveillance
operation on the drugs trade in the city.

The man, in his mid forties, had for many years played a key role
within the PIRA, but in recent years had opted to pursue a criminal
career focusing on the drug trade.

Well known in his native Cork city, gardai have for a number of years
believed he was one of the major players in the drug scene in Munster.

He was arrested in the company of a woman in her 20s but details of
her identity were not fully known last night.

Garda successes in Cork and Limerick, since the beginning of the year,
have resulted in a shortage in the supply of ecstasy in both cities
and prices for the illegal drug had begun to increase in recent weeks.

RUC and gardai believe the former Provo used contacts from his days as
a member of the PIRA in Belfast to source the 18,000 ecstasy tablets
he was found with when arrested. The man was well connected in Cork's
family dominated drug business and gardai believe this may have been a
trial run to examine the possibility of opening up a new source of
supply.

The man has, up to now, never been jailed for his IRA
activities.

However, at one time he was one of the top PIRA men in Munster and was
believed to have kept contact with many of his former terrorist
colleagues while involved in the drug trade.

His arrest by the RUC takes out a major and influential player in the
drug trade in Munster. However, the uncovering of the Belfast/Cork
drug axis poses major problems for the gardai and RUC as the level of
cross border trade in drugs was believed to be confined to purely
criminal elements and members of dissident republican organisations.