February 23, 2001
AN OPERATION mounted by German intelligence officers to deal a crippling blow to Irish terrorism can be disclosed by The Times today.
A German agent who was apparently working closely with the British intelligence service MI5 risked his life to infiltrate the Irish National Liberation Army and lure its then chief of staff, Hugh Torney, to Germany to buy Semtex explosive to make bombs. The chance to cut off the INLA’s European arms pipeline and place its leader behind bars was, however, squandered when German police set the terrorist free.
Torney went on to organise a series of bomb and gun attacks in Northern Ireland. Among the victims was a nine-year-old girl who was murdered in a drive-by shooting.
Posing as a left-wing extremist and republican sympathiser, the German agent had watched as Torney and an accomplice, Sean Green, purchased the Semtex. Green went on to take part in a letter-bomb campaign whose victims included the Unionist leaders David Trimble and Jeffrey Donaldson.
Details of the secret operation are revealed in a series of confidential reports prepared by the German domestic intelligence agency, the Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz (BfV), the federal prosecutor´s office and Stuttgart police.
They show that the agent joined the INLA in the mid-1990s and eventually became a trusted confidant of its leadership. He is thought to have made contact with leading INLA figures while posing as a member of an extreme left-wing German organisation called Revolutionary Cells.
Apparently working closely with MI5, he helped to set up the sting operation in August 1994, when the IRA was about to announce a ceasefire but the INLA was widely expected to continue waging its terror campaign.
Torney was lured to Germany after the agent offered to find a safe house in a small town near Stuttgart. The agent accompanied Torney, 40, and Green, 30, to Pilsen in the Czech Republic where, the agent reported, they met a man who was to supply the Semtex. A third terrorist then arranged to take the Semtex back to Ireland.
Torney and Green were subsequently surrounded and arrested by heavily armed police at Stuttgart railway station.
BfV officers believed that they had succeeded in striking a serious blow to one of Europe´s most ruthless terrorist organisations.
To the horror of the BfV and the fury of the agent, however, the police decided that they had insufficient evidence against the two terrorists and put them on a train bound for France.
In a confidential report, which has been seen by The Times, the agent complained: “Although the police authorities were handed a leading member of the INLA on a plate, they failed dismally.” He explains how the operation was planned after a series of meetings with INLA terrorists at their homes in the border town of Dundalk.
“The aim was to stop the further transportation of weapons and explosives and to find out the transportation routes used,” the agent wrote in his report.
“To this purpose leading INLA members were to be enticed, under observation, to a procurement activity in BRD and to be arrested having been seen making purchases in the Czech Republic and storing the goods in Schwäbisch Hall (a small town 40 miles northeast of Stuttgart).
“At the end of July 1994 a talk was held at the house of one of the old bosses of INLA, Peter Stewart. Stewart, another INLA member and I were present at this meeting. It took place in Dundalk.
“Two days later there was a meeting between the chief of staff of INLA, Hugh Torney, the area leader reponsible for Tyrone, Gino Gallagher, and myself. As much Semtex as possible was to be bought in the Czech Republic, also detonators would be needed.”
A Stuttgart police report describes how the two men were arrested at the city’s railway station on August 10. They were carrying about £10,000 in various currencies which the police accepted in their report, was “money was left over from an explosives procurement activity”.
Senior police ruled that there was insufficient evidence to charge Torney or Green despite the apparent willingness of the BfV agent to testify against them. The two men were put on a train bound for Paris. BfV sources say that the local police “couldn’t conceal their relief” when the train pulled out of the station.
The agent, whose identity is known to The Times, was forced to adopt a new name and leave Germany after being warned that an INLA terrorist living in Amsterdam had been ordered to kill him.
Torney launched bomb and gun attacks over the next two years before he was killed in an internal INLA feud. Green was jailed for five years in in July 1999 for his part in a letter bomb campaign. He was released six weeks later under the early release programme.
Ian Cobain (Reproduced from The Times, 8th January)
GERMAN SPY EXPOSED AS KEY INLA MOLE
AN EXTRAORDINARY operation mounted by German intelligence officers against a republican terrorist group has been revealed.
A German agent risked his life to infiltrate the INLA and lure its then chief of staff, Hugh Torney, to Germany to buy Semtex explosive to make bombs. The chance to cut off the INLA’s European arms pipeline and place its leader behind bars was, however, squandered when German police set the terrorist free.
Torney went on to organise a series of bomb and gun attacks in Northern Ireland. Among the victims was a girl of nine murdered in a drive-by shooting.
Posing as a leftwing extremist and republican sympathiser, the German agent had watched as Torney and an accomplice, Sean Green, purchased the Semtex. Green went on to take part in a letter bomb campaign whose victims included the unionist leaders David Trimble and Jeffrey Donaldson.
Details of the secret operation are revealed in a series of confidential reports prepared by the German domestic intelligence agency, the Bundesamt fur Verfassungsschutz (BfV), the federal prosecutors office and Stuttgart police.
They show that the agent joined the INLA in the mid-1990s and eventually became a trusted confidant of its leadership. He is thought to have made contact with leading INLA figures while posing as a member of an extreme left-wing German organisation called Revolutionary Cells.
Apparently working closely with Britain’s MI5, he helped to set up the sting operation in August 1994, when the IRA was about to announce a ceasefire but the INLA was widely expected to continue its terror campaign.
Ian Cobain (Reproduced from the Irish Independent, 8th January)