MI5/FBI PAID $2,750 PER MONTH TO RIRA SPY WHO HELPED PLAN OMAGH BOMB
MI5/FBI paid $2,750 per month to RIRA spy who helped plan Omagh bomb
THE key witness in the criminal case against Michael McKevitt for allegedly masterminding the terrorist activities of the Real IRA, including the August 1998 bombing of Omagh in which 29 people and two unborn children were slaughtered, was on the payroll of British Intelligence agency MI5.
David Rupert, who now claims that he took part in a "dummy run" for a car bomb in Omagh shortly before the devastating atrocity, received monthly payments of up to $27,500 and a house with a jacuzzi from British and US intelligence services for his information on the Real IRA, it has been revealed.
The Sunday Business Post in Dublin said that Rupert originally told the Garda Special Branch that he was only paid for his expenses by the FBI and MI5, according to informed sources.
However, it has now been established that he was paid monthly sums of between $2,000 and $12,000 and an annual bonus of $15,000 through an account in the Bank of Ireland in Sligo up until Christmas 2000. He was also paid though accounts in London and the Cayman Islands.
The monthly payments were increased in January 2001 to $27,500 after Rupert agreed to give evidence against McKevitt, the alleged head of the Real IRA. It is believed this information was not originally furnished to the Garda by MI5 and the FBI.
Rupert's wife, Maureen Alben Rupert is also believed to have received separate payments from the intelligence services. Rupert is due to give his evidence later this year against McKevitt, who is being held under the charge of "directing terrorism".
It is believed that the Office of the Police Ombudsman Nuala O'Loan is examining a complaint arising from revelations last month about Rupert's possible knowledge about the Omagh bombing.
The office has yet to decide if the complaint warrants an investigation.
According to correspondence between Rupert and MI5, the supergrass identified members of the Continuity IRA in Donegal who were allegedly planning to target Omagh or Derry with a massive car bomb.
While these men aborted the mission in April 1998, they are alleged by Garda sources to have provided intelligence and logistical back-up for the attack by the Real IRA the following August.
After the bombing, 51-year-old Rupert made the startling admission to his British handlers that Omagh was one of the potential targets he had "mentioned" to the Continuity IRA activists. He also gave details of a practice bomb run to Omagh from his South Donegal base.
The American MI5/FBI mole was instructed to leave the Republic the day after the atrocity.
He was flown out on the first available flight to London where he was debriefed over a two-day period by MI5 in London, the correspondence reveals.
Rupert specifically asked MIS on the day after the bombing to "insulate" him from the gardai.
He made his way back to Chicago, where he urged Republican dissidents not to be "disheartened" by what had happened in Omagh. For a time, he lived in suburban Wheatfield, Indiana, a community favoured by many FBI agents.
Some months later, Rupert was back in Ireland and is reported to have attended a meeting in a Monaghan hotel between activists in the RIRA and Continuity IRA on merging their organisations in a bid to distance the Real IRA group from the Omagh bombing and their so-called declaration of a ceasefire, and also to provide a wider network for the Continuity IRA. At this meeting, arms supply was discussed and, subsequently, Rupert was shown an arms dump on a farm. The dump was later uncovered and the weapons seized by the gardai.
However, Rupert continued to enjoy a close relationship with the Real IRA and its supporters.
The six foot-four, 20-stone infiltrator was born in Madrid, New York state, in 1951 of German background. He also claimed to have native American Mohawk ancestry. His first contact with Ireland came through a former girlfriend with whom he visited the country in the early 1990s.
Rupert, who operated a trucking company, was approached by the FBI, it is now known, and offered a way out of his financial difficulties. A former FBI agent called Louis Stephens, has been quoted as saying that Rupert was "clearly heavily financed and probably defaulted, although there is no evidence of bankruptcy".
Nevertheless, Rupert visited Ireland frequently after his initial contact and befriended Bundoran publican and Republican Sinn Fein activist Joe O'Neill. At one point, he leased a bar in Tullaghan, Co. Leitrim, near the Donegal seaside resort. This an and apartment in Bundoran were used for meetings of Republican dissidents.
Rupert is also known to have supplied computers to supporters of the dissidents in the United States. It is now suspected that these machines were bugged to copy e-mails to the FBI.
His main contact with Irish paramilitary support groups appears to have been through Martin Galvin, the fiery Long Island, New York, lawyer who switched allegiance to the 32 County Sovereignty Association. The former main activist in Noraid, the US fundraising organisation for prisoners welfare, was immediately ostracised by Sinn Fein.
In November 1999, both Galvin and Rupert addressed a meeting in Dundalk Town Hall of supporters of the Irish Republican Welfare Association, a fundraising organisation for dissident Republican prisoners.
Galvin subsequently learned of Rupert's undercover role and denounced him on the New York radio station which had been drumming up support for the Real IRA. Galvin distanced himself from his former associate. He claimed on air that Rupert had been compromised by the FBI because of a federal tax bill for $300,000.
THE key witness in the criminal case against Michael McKevitt for allegedly masterminding the terrorist activities of the Real IRA, including the August 1998 bombing of Omagh in which 29 people and two unborn children were slaughtered, was on the payroll of British Intelligence agency MI5.
David Rupert, who now claims that he took part in a "dummy run" for a car bomb in Omagh shortly before the devastating atrocity, received monthly payments of up to $27,500 and a house with a jacuzzi from British and US intelligence services for his information on the Real IRA, it has been revealed.
The Sunday Business Post in Dublin said that Rupert originally told the Garda Special Branch that he was only paid for his expenses by the FBI and MI5, according to informed sources.
However, it has now been established that he was paid monthly sums of between $2,000 and $12,000 and an annual bonus of $15,000 through an account in the Bank of Ireland in Sligo up until Christmas 2000. He was also paid though accounts in London and the Cayman Islands.
The monthly payments were increased in January 2001 to $27,500 after Rupert agreed to give evidence against McKevitt, the alleged head of the Real IRA. It is believed this information was not originally furnished to the Garda by MI5 and the FBI.
Rupert's wife, Maureen Alben Rupert is also believed to have received separate payments from the intelligence services. Rupert is due to give his evidence later this year against McKevitt, who is being held under the charge of "directing terrorism".
It is believed that the Office of the Police Ombudsman Nuala O'Loan is examining a complaint arising from revelations last month about Rupert's possible knowledge about the Omagh bombing.
The office has yet to decide if the complaint warrants an investigation.
According to correspondence between Rupert and MI5, the supergrass identified members of the Continuity IRA in Donegal who were allegedly planning to target Omagh or Derry with a massive car bomb.
While these men aborted the mission in April 1998, they are alleged by Garda sources to have provided intelligence and logistical back-up for the attack by the Real IRA the following August.
After the bombing, 51-year-old Rupert made the startling admission to his British handlers that Omagh was one of the potential targets he had "mentioned" to the Continuity IRA activists. He also gave details of a practice bomb run to Omagh from his South Donegal base.
The American MI5/FBI mole was instructed to leave the Republic the day after the atrocity.
He was flown out on the first available flight to London where he was debriefed over a two-day period by MI5 in London, the correspondence reveals.
Rupert specifically asked MIS on the day after the bombing to "insulate" him from the gardai.
He made his way back to Chicago, where he urged Republican dissidents not to be "disheartened" by what had happened in Omagh. For a time, he lived in suburban Wheatfield, Indiana, a community favoured by many FBI agents.
Some months later, Rupert was back in Ireland and is reported to have attended a meeting in a Monaghan hotel between activists in the RIRA and Continuity IRA on merging their organisations in a bid to distance the Real IRA group from the Omagh bombing and their so-called declaration of a ceasefire, and also to provide a wider network for the Continuity IRA. At this meeting, arms supply was discussed and, subsequently, Rupert was shown an arms dump on a farm. The dump was later uncovered and the weapons seized by the gardai.
However, Rupert continued to enjoy a close relationship with the Real IRA and its supporters.
The six foot-four, 20-stone infiltrator was born in Madrid, New York state, in 1951 of German background. He also claimed to have native American Mohawk ancestry. His first contact with Ireland came through a former girlfriend with whom he visited the country in the early 1990s.
Rupert, who operated a trucking company, was approached by the FBI, it is now known, and offered a way out of his financial difficulties. A former FBI agent called Louis Stephens, has been quoted as saying that Rupert was "clearly heavily financed and probably defaulted, although there is no evidence of bankruptcy".
Nevertheless, Rupert visited Ireland frequently after his initial contact and befriended Bundoran publican and Republican Sinn Fein activist Joe O'Neill. At one point, he leased a bar in Tullaghan, Co. Leitrim, near the Donegal seaside resort. This an and apartment in Bundoran were used for meetings of Republican dissidents.
Rupert is also known to have supplied computers to supporters of the dissidents in the United States. It is now suspected that these machines were bugged to copy e-mails to the FBI.
His main contact with Irish paramilitary support groups appears to have been through Martin Galvin, the fiery Long Island, New York, lawyer who switched allegiance to the 32 County Sovereignty Association. The former main activist in Noraid, the US fundraising organisation for prisoners welfare, was immediately ostracised by Sinn Fein.
In November 1999, both Galvin and Rupert addressed a meeting in Dundalk Town Hall of supporters of the Irish Republican Welfare Association, a fundraising organisation for dissident Republican prisoners.
Galvin subsequently learned of Rupert's undercover role and denounced him on the New York radio station which had been drumming up support for the Real IRA. Galvin distanced himself from his former associate. He claimed on air that Rupert had been compromised by the FBI because of a federal tax bill for $300,000.
Further Information
Publisher: ULSTER HERALD
Ref: UH/0995
Published Date: 04-Feb-02
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