30 September 1999 Edition
British guns seized
By Ned Kelly
A British Army spokesperson has confirmed that an unspecified number of Iraqi-made AK-47 rifles, held illegally as `war trophies' by Scots Guards at the Ballykinlar British army camp in County Down, were seized during a routine search months ago.
South Down Sinn Féin Assembly member Mick Murphy says he is not surprised at news of the discovery given the history of the Ballykinlar camp.
``This camp has been associated with collusion and the abuse of human rights since it was built,'' he said. ``In the early 1990s, Ballykinlar was at the centre of investigations into the handing over of British intelligence files to loyalist death squads. One of the publicised incidents was the UDA murder of Rathfriland man Loughlin Maginn. It emerged later that the loyalists involved in that 1989 killing had been supplied with information from leaked British crown forces files held at Ballykinlar.''
Murphy added that the silence of Unionist politicians was ``disturbing''. He said that as a local resident he was ``at a loss to see how the current MP [the SDLP's] Eddie McGrady can be surprised at this find given the history of the British army and this particular camp''.
``The Scots Guards responsible for bringing these Iraqi guns into Ireland is the same regiment whose members murdered North Belfast teenager Peter McBride,'' continued the South Down Assembly member.
``The use of these weapons as `trophies' has sinister parallels with the glorification of the murder of Martin Peake and Karen Reilly by the Parachute regiment - when their canteen was decorated with a cardboard mock up of the Vauxhall car, riddled with bullets similar to the one both teenagers were shot dead in.''
With these weapons being unlicensed, illegal and untraceable, the potential for them to find their way into the hands of loyalists sends a message to nationalists throughout South Down that, in the words of Murphy, ``if this peace process is to work, not only the `trophies' of the British army but its military presence in all its manifestations must be returned to Britain''.
A British Army spokesperson has confirmed that an unspecified number of Iraqi-made AK-47 rifles, held illegally as `war trophies' by Scots Guards at the Ballykinlar British army camp in County Down, were seized during a routine search months ago.
South Down Sinn Féin Assembly member Mick Murphy says he is not surprised at news of the discovery given the history of the Ballykinlar camp.
``This camp has been associated with collusion and the abuse of human rights since it was built,'' he said. ``In the early 1990s, Ballykinlar was at the centre of investigations into the handing over of British intelligence files to loyalist death squads. One of the publicised incidents was the UDA murder of Rathfriland man Loughlin Maginn. It emerged later that the loyalists involved in that 1989 killing had been supplied with information from leaked British crown forces files held at Ballykinlar.''
Murphy added that the silence of Unionist politicians was ``disturbing''. He said that as a local resident he was ``at a loss to see how the current MP [the SDLP's] Eddie McGrady can be surprised at this find given the history of the British army and this particular camp''.
``The Scots Guards responsible for bringing these Iraqi guns into Ireland is the same regiment whose members murdered North Belfast teenager Peter McBride,'' continued the South Down Assembly member.
``The use of these weapons as `trophies' has sinister parallels with the glorification of the murder of Martin Peake and Karen Reilly by the Parachute regiment - when their canteen was decorated with a cardboard mock up of the Vauxhall car, riddled with bullets similar to the one both teenagers were shot dead in.''
With these weapons being unlicensed, illegal and untraceable, the potential for them to find their way into the hands of loyalists sends a message to nationalists throughout South Down that, in the words of Murphy, ``if this peace process is to work, not only the `trophies' of the British army but its military presence in all its manifestations must be returned to Britain''.