The theft of files from Special Branch offices in Belfast could have far-reaching consequences for the North's intelligence agencies and paramilitary informants, writes Jim Cusack, Security Correspondent
The complex from which sensitive files were stolen on Sunday night was one of the centres used by the British army's shadowy undercover squad, the Force Research Unit (FRU). The squad is highly controversial; it has never been officially acknowledged and its operations are always denied.
While there was no evidence to connect members of the FRU with the break-in and theft of files on informants, police sources in Northern Ireland were already speculating it might have been behind the break-in.
The FRU has sufficient skills and also the possible motivation. It has been at the centre of controversy over its involvement with loyalist groups which killed figures such as solicitors Patrick Finucane and Rosemary Nelson.
There have been many claims by loyalists - most particularly UDA (Ulster Defence Association) members - that they had close associations with undercover British soldiers at the time they were involved in assassination campaigns against republicans and nationalists. These claims are being backed by ex-members of the undercover military squads who feel they were badly treated by the army after risking their lives in Northern Ireland.
A small number of ex-soldiers have begun writing books and a group has come together to lobby British politicians and the media.
Combined with developments such as the Police Ombudsman's delving into the actions of the RUC Special Branch, it is reported there is resentment and suspicion in the North's intelligence and undercover community.
One source yesterday said the theft of files from The Laddis Drive Centre is bound to strike fear of exposure into police or army informants in paramilitary organisations. The paramilitary fate of an uncovered informant is execution, normally after prolonged torture.
Security sources are speculating that the FRU, with elements of the Special Branch, is beginning to feel the activities of its members and the identities of its sources are under threat.
The pressure for public inquiries into the murders of Pat Finucane and Rosemary Nelson must concern the FRU which is known to be closely associated with loyalist elements responsible.
Most importantly, the FRU is being accused of passing on intelligence files on the movements of IRA figures, but also by mistake on innocent civilians, which loyalists used to carry out assassinations. This was the subject of another police inquiry from September 1989 to May 1990 under the then deputy chief constable for Cambridgeshire and now Chief Constable of the London Metropolitan Police, Mr John Stevens.
The Stevens' Inquiry found evidence that military figures handed over thousands of files to loyalists. Several low-level arrests were made and a number of soldiers and loyalists, including the UDA's West Belfast commander, Tommy Lyttle, were sentenced.
However, as one source said yesterday, the Stevens' Inquiry team also had an experience strikingly similar to that of Sunday night. In January 1990, just as the team of English detectives was making headway into their inquiries on collusion between the military and loyalists, a suspicious fire broke out at their supposedly secure offices in the then RUC complex at Carrickfergus, Co Antrim.
The fire broke out in the team's locked offices only in the large complex. At the time, the Stevens' team was concentrating on the relationship between the FRU and the UDA. Investigators had planned to arrest five prominent figures, including the UDA's director of intelligence Brian Nelson, the day after the fire.
Nelson was tried for a number of murders, served a reduced sentence, and was given a new identity. He is presumed to be living abroad. Another ex-British army figure who was infiltrated into the UDA, and was involved in the Finucane murder, was William Stobie. Stobie was assassinated by the UDA last December after publicly admitting his dual role.
Nelson was subsequently shown to have been planted in the UDA by the army and fed information on republicans by members of the FRU. Nelson, in turn, passed back information about UDA activities. However, this relationship failed to prevent a number of murders in the late 1980s in Belfast, including that of Mr Finucane.
Loyalist sources have indicated to The Irish Times that the relationship between the FRU and the UDA, which started in the mid-1970s, has continued to the present. They also said there are suspicions about connections between the FRU and loyalists who carried out the assassination of Rosemary Nelson.
Elements from both the UDA and the splinter loyalist group, the Loyalist Volunteer Force, were equally involved in Ms Nelson's murder. Although it is believed they acted independently of their army contacts, loyalist sources say a number of figures close to the murder have dubious contacts with "military intelligence".