RIRA CHIEF PLANNED ATTACKS ON BRITAIN
RIRA chief 'planned attacks on Britain'
BY ALAN ERWIN
MICHAEL McKevitt was plotting to unleash a new hi-tech terror offensive on Britain, it was alleged in the High Court in Belfast yesterday.
The jailed Real IRA leader was said to have authorised the first strikes and claimed to have perfected a detonation system using mobile phones, according to the FBI agent who helped convict him.
Emails David Rupert sent to his handlers after agreeing to infiltrate the dissident republicans were disclosed at the Omagh bomb civil action.
In one, the American trucking boss-turned-spy claimed McKevitt told him they had developed a method where a bomb in London or Belfast could be detonated by phone from Cork.
Even though Mr Rupert has not attended the hearing in Belfast where McKevitt and four other men are facing a multi-million pound compensation claim from relatives of some of the 29 people killed in the 1998 Omagh atrocity, his statement and undercover correspondence were read out.
In them he claims to have been accepted into the dissident republicans' inner circle after first meeting McKevitt a year on from the bombing.
In one email Mr Rupert told of a meeting with McKevitt, an electronics expert and a bomb maker, which turned into a "think tank" where they listed what they needed. This included mercury switches, laptops to send bomb warnings, voice modulators, black power for mortars and night vision goggles to detect any bugs on their cars .
Mr Rupert alleged he was told that a major hit would be launched soon, with the "green light" already given.
The first targets were to be big and in England, it was claimed.
The trial continues.
BY ALAN ERWIN
MICHAEL McKevitt was plotting to unleash a new hi-tech terror offensive on Britain, it was alleged in the High Court in Belfast yesterday.
The jailed Real IRA leader was said to have authorised the first strikes and claimed to have perfected a detonation system using mobile phones, according to the FBI agent who helped convict him.
Emails David Rupert sent to his handlers after agreeing to infiltrate the dissident republicans were disclosed at the Omagh bomb civil action.
In one, the American trucking boss-turned-spy claimed McKevitt told him they had developed a method where a bomb in London or Belfast could be detonated by phone from Cork.
Even though Mr Rupert has not attended the hearing in Belfast where McKevitt and four other men are facing a multi-million pound compensation claim from relatives of some of the 29 people killed in the 1998 Omagh atrocity, his statement and undercover correspondence were read out.
In them he claims to have been accepted into the dissident republicans' inner circle after first meeting McKevitt a year on from the bombing.
In one email Mr Rupert told of a meeting with McKevitt, an electronics expert and a bomb maker, which turned into a "think tank" where they listed what they needed. This included mercury switches, laptops to send bomb warnings, voice modulators, black power for mortars and night vision goggles to detect any bugs on their cars .
Mr Rupert alleged he was told that a major hit would be launched soon, with the "green light" already given.
The first targets were to be big and in England, it was claimed.
The trial continues.
Further Information
Publisher: NEWS LETTER
Ref: NL/762
Published Date: 24-Jun-08
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