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Stakeknife
"Stakeknife" is the code name of a high-level spy who successfully infiltrated the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) while working for the top-secret Force Research Unit (FRU) of the British Army. Reports claim that Stakeknife worked for British intelligence for 25 years. Stakeknife has been accused of being a double agent who oversaw the murders of informers within the IRA while working for the British. British officials launched Operation Kenova to investigate these claims of state involvement in the kidnap, torture and murder of more than 50 individuals, leading to the arrest of Freddie Scappaticci in January 2018 on accusations that he was Stakeknife—a claim which Scappaticci denied. Activity "Stakeknife" had his own dedicated handlers and agents, and it was suggested that he was important enough that MI5 set up an office dedicated solely to him. Rumours suggested that he was being paid at least £80,000 a year and had a bank account in Gibraltar. Serious allegations ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Force Research Unit
The Force Research Unit (FRU) was a covert military intelligence unit of the British Army's Intelligence Corps. It was established in 1982 during the Troubles to obtain intelligence from terrorist organisations in Northern Ireland by recruiting and running agents and informants. It worked alongside existing intelligence agencies including the Royal Ulster Constabulary, Special Branch and MI5. In 1988, the All-Source Intelligence Cell was formed to improve the sharing of intelligence between the FRU, Special Branch and MI5. The FRU was renamed to the Joint Support Group (JSG) following the Stevens Inquiries into allegations of collusion between the security forces and Protestant paramilitary groups. The FRU was found to have colluded with loyalist paramilitaries by the Stevens Inquiries. This has been confirmed by some former members of the unit. From 1987 to 1991, it was commanded by Gordon Kerr. Collusion with loyalist paramilitaries In the mid 1980s, the FRU rec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Martin Ingram
Martin Ingram is the pseudonym of ex-British Army soldier Ian Hurst, who served in the Intelligence Corps and Force Research Unit (FRU). He has made a number of allegations about the conduct of the British Army, its operations in Northern Ireland via the FRU, and against figures in the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) and Sinn Féin. Military career He served two tours of Northern Ireland working for Army Intelligence between 19811990. Ingram joined the Intelligence Corps in 1980. In 1981, after training, he joined 121 Intelligence Section as a Lance Corporal. 121 Intelligence Section were based at Headquarters Northern Ireland (HQNI). The unit supplied intelligence support for the General Officer Commanding (GOC) and Commander Land Forces (CLF). They were attached to G2, the intelligence wing of HQNI. G2 desk officers were graded GSO2 or GSO3 and were captains or majors. Ingram began in the 3 Special Collation Team (SCT) whose sole function was inputting RUC Special B ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Operation Kenova
Operation Kenova is a criminal investigation into whether the Royal Ulster Constabulary in Northern Ireland failed to investigate as many as 18 murders in order to protect a high level double agent codenamed Stakeknife working for the Force Research Unit inside the Provisional Irish Republican Army. The investigation is headed by Jon Boutcher, former Chief constable of Bedfordshire Police. Stakeknife led the IRA Internal Security Unit, known as the "nutting squad". About 30 people were killed by the nutting squad while he was involved with it. Senior British officers referred to Stakeknife as the "golden egg" due to the calibre of information he supplied. Research by Panorama suggested that Stakeknife was so highly prized that other agents were sacrificed to conceal his identity. Panorama claimed that Joseph Fenton was executed by the IRA despite Stakeknife telling his handlers that Fenton was to be killed. The authorities did nothing to prevent the murder. In July 2020 Jon Bou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Freddie Scappaticci
Freddie Scappaticci (born c. 1946 Belfast) is a purported former high-level double agent in the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), known by the codename " Stakeknife". Early life Scappaticci was born around 1946 and grew up in the Markets area of Belfast, the son of Daniel Scappaticci, an Italian immigrant to the city in the 1920s. In 1962, at the age of 16, he was encouraged to sign for the football club Nottingham Forest although his father is said to have resisted the idea. He took up work as a bricklayer. He was fined for riotous assembly in 1970 after being caught up in the Troubles and, a year later, was interned without trial at the age of 25 as part of Operation Demetrius. Among those interned with him were figures later to become prominent in the republican movement, such as Ivor Bell, Gerry Adams, and Alex Maskey. He was released from detention in 1974 and was by this time a member of the Provisional IRA. IRA career By 1980, Scappaticci was a lead member in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Internal Security Unit
The Internal Security Unit (ISU) was the counter-intelligence and interrogation unit of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA). This unit was often referred to as the Nutting Squad. The unit is thought to have had jurisdiction over both Northern and Southern Commands of the IRA, (encompassing the whole of Ireland), and to have been directly attached to IRA General Headquarters (GHQ). Duties The group was believed to have had a number of briefs: * Security and character vetting of new recruits to the IRA, * Collecting and collating material on failed and compromised IRA operations, * Collecting and collating material on suspect or compromised individuals (informers), * Interrogation and debriefing of suspects and compromised individuals, * Carrying out killings and lesser punishments of those judged guilty by IRA courts martial. The ISU was believed to have unlimited access to the members, apparatus and resources of the IRA in carrying out its duties. Its remit could not be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Provisional Irish Republican Army
The Irish Republican Army (IRA; ), also known as the Provisional Irish Republican Army, and informally as the Provos, was an Irish republican paramilitary organisation that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland, facilitate Irish reunification and bring about an independent, socialist republic encompassing all of Ireland. It was the most active republican paramilitary group during the Troubles. It saw itself as the army of the all-island Irish Republic and as the sole legitimate successor to the original IRA from the Irish War of Independence. It was designated a terrorist organisation in the United Kingdom and an unlawful organisation in the Republic of Ireland, both of whose authority it rejected. The Provisional IRA emerged in December 1969, due to a split within the previous incarnation of the IRA and the broader Irish republican movement. It was initially the minority faction in the split compared to the Official IRA, but became the dominant faction by 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brian Nelson (Northern Irish Loyalist)
Brian Nelson (30 September 1947 – 11 April 2003) was an Ulster loyalist paramilitary member during The Troubles in Northern Ireland. He was an intelligence chief of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), and also a clandestine agent for the British Army's Force Research Unit during the conflict.''The Independent'' obituary for Brian Nelson, 14 April 2003 Early life Nelson, a Protestant from the Shankill Road, Belfast, served with the British Army's Black Watch Regiment before joining the Ulster Defence Association in the early 1970s, where he became a low-level intelligence agent for the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC). In 1974 he was jailed for seven years for the kidnap and torture of an Irish man, Gerald Higgins, who died several weeks later from his injuries. Nelson served three years for the crime. After his release, Nelson resigned from the UDA and left for a construction job in West Germany. In 1985, however, the British Government approached him on the basis of his p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Francisco Notarantonio
Brian Nelson (30 September 1947 – 11 April 2003) was an Ulster loyalist paramilitary member during The Troubles in Northern Ireland. He was an intelligence chief of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), and also a clandestine agent for the British Army's Force Research Unit during the conflict.''The Independent'' obituary for Brian Nelson, 14 April 2003 Early life Nelson, a Protestant from the Shankill Road, Belfast, served with the British Army's Black Watch Regiment before joining the Ulster Defence Association in the early 1970s, where he became a low-level intelligence agent for the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC). In 1974 he was jailed for seven years for the kidnap and torture of an Irish man, Gerald Higgins, who died several weeks later from his injuries. Nelson served three years for the crime. After his release, Nelson resigned from the UDA and left for a construction job in West Germany. In 1985, however, the British Government approached him on the basis of his pre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Double Agent
In the field of counterintelligence, a double agent is an employee of a secret intelligence service for one country, whose primary purpose is to spy on a target organization of another country, but who is now spying on their own country's organization for the target organization. Double agentry may be practised by spies of the target organization who infiltrate the controlling organization or may result from the ''turning'' (switching sides) of previously loyal agents of the controlling organization by the target. The threat of execution is the most common method of turning a captured agent (working for an intelligence service) into a double agent (working for a foreign intelligence service) or a double agent into a ''re-doubled agent''. It is unlike a defector, who is not considered an agent as agents are in place to function for an intelligence service and defectors are not, but some consider that defectors in place are agents until they have defected. Double agents are oft ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Espionage
Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence) from non-disclosed sources or divulging of the same without the permission of the holder of the information for a tangible benefit. A person who commits espionage is called an ''espionage agent'' or ''spy''. Any individual or spy ring (a cooperating group of spies), in the service of a government, company, criminal organization, or independent operation, can commit espionage. The practice is clandestine, as it is by definition unwelcome. In some circumstances, it may be a legal tool of law enforcement and in others, it may be illegal and punishable by law. Espionage is often part of an institutional effort by a government or commercial concern. However, the term tends to be associated with state spying on potential or actual enemies for military purposes. Spying involving corporations is known as industrial espionage. One of the most effective ways ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stevens Inquiries
The Stevens Inquiries were three official British government inquiries led by Sir John Stevens concerning collusion in Northern Ireland between loyalist paramilitaries and the state security forces. While Stevens declared in 1990 that collusion was "neither wide-spread nor institutionalised", by April 2003 he acknowledged that he had uncovered collusion at a level "way beyond" his 1990 view. Much of Stevens' evidence was obtained from advanced fingerprint techniques to link people to documents. By 2005 the team had identified 2,000 people from their prints with a further 1,015 sets of prints outstanding. Stevens 1 Loughlin Maginn In September 1989 RUC chief constable, Sir Hugh Annesley, ordered the initial enquiry about the circumstances following the August 1989 death of Loughlin Maginn. Maginn, a 28-year-old Catholic, was shot by the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) at his home in Lissize, near Rathfriland. Although Maginn had no paramilitary connections, the UDA claimed he wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Public Prosecution Service For Northern Ireland
The Public Prosecution Service for Northern Ireland (PPSNI) is the department of the Northern Ireland Executive responsible for public prosecutions of people charged with criminal offences in Northern Ireland. It is headed by the Director of Public Prosecutions for Northern Ireland. Its role is similar to that of the longer-established Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service in Scotland, and the Crown Prosecution Service in England and Wales. The PPSNI employs 50 Public Prosecutors and over 100 administrative staff. The Police Service of Northern Ireland investigate crimes. The PPSNI advise the police on possible prosecutions, authorise charge, review cases submitted by the police, prepare for and present cases in court. It was established by the Justice (Northern Ireland) Act 2002. Prior to its establishment the police themselves would prosecute most offences, with some being referred to the former Department of the Director of Public Prosecutions. The Director of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
