Sinn Fein has said that British intelligence files containing the security details of more than 80 nationalists in south Down have been passed onto loyalist paramilitaries. At a press conference in Belfast yesterday, the party's Assembly member for south Down, Mr Mick Murphy, said the RUC had informed only 15 of the nationalists of the threat to their lives.
The RUC was also refusing to tell those affected exactly what information the loyalists possessed and whether it related to their home or workplace, he said.
An RUC spokeswoman said police were advising a number of people in the south Down area about their personal security.
Mr Murphy said: "In the last 12 months, unprecedented numbers of people have been made aware of the fact their lives have been endangered because of leaked information.
"We can no longer be expected to believe that this has come about through careless housekeeping. It is clearly evident that there are those within the RUC and British military establishment who have set up a conveyor belt flow of information on nationalists to loyalist paramilitaries and are working to a sinister agenda."