Last weekend a Belfast republican was detained after arriving at Glasgow Airport and subjected to a series of threats and harassment at the hands of two men who identified themselves as being from the ‘Security Services’. Speaking exclusively to 107 Cowgate he told how after his flight from Belfast landed he was initially detained by Police Scotland and asked to provide identification. He was then told he would need to wait while they verified his identification and was led to a room. After he entered the room the door was locked and he found himself in the presence of two men. These two Irishmen identified themselves as ‘Mick’ and ‘Steve’ and said ‘As you’ll gather from our accents we are not from Police Scotland. We are from the Security Service.’
They then proceeded to threaten the republican saying ‘People are being killed at the moment and that could be you. But we are working to stop the killing and want you to work with us’. They then proceeded to ask the republican activist to meet them on his return to Belfast and made repeated attempts to give him a phone number to contact them. The republican repeatedly refused to engage them in discussion and repeatedly asked them to unlock the door and allow his to leave. This intimidation continued for a prolonged period before finally the door was unlocked and he was allowed to leave the room.
Outside the room he was met by the Police Scotland officer who had initially detained him and asked for his identification. The republican told him he had been threatened in the room and was extremely unhappy the police officer had facilitated this. The police officer replied ‘Police Scotland can do what we like to you’.
This latest incident comes only a month after a lorry driver from Armagh was stopped by Police Scotland in a rural part of Dumfries and Galloway only weeks after a similar approach had been made to him in Belfast. As he was making his way through Castle Kennedy he was pulled over by a police patrol car flashing its blue lights. The driver told the Irish News, “Two uniformed police told me to stand at the back of the lorry, that they were doing a routine check”.
“When I walked to the back of the lorry the two men from Belfast were standing there. “One said, ‘Bet you weren’t expecting to see us here’. The taller one said, ‘I’ve money here for you’. He kept telling me I wouldn’t need to work so hard and they could sort a holiday for me and the kids. They knew I’d done a medical trial recently and how much I’d been paid for it. One of them said, ‘I’ve 10 times this amount for you here if you help us’ – they gave me the same number again to ring.”
Given the evidence that exists of collusion between British police forces, Security Services and pro British death squads these threats must be taken seriously and represent a sinister development in Scottish policing. The role played by Police Scotland in falsely detaining these men and delivering them into the hands of the UK state’s secret police needs to be fully investigated.
107 Cowgate has previously covered how Scotland’s police have been transformed into a Met of the North under the SNP. The people of Scotland have the right to know are these political policing operations sanctioned and directed by the SNP’s Justice Minister, Kenny MacAskill or are Police Scotland now operating outwith his control? Are these political policing operations being directed by MI5 and the Home Office?
What is required is accountability and transparency in policing. What we have in Scotland is the exact opposite of that. The people of Scotland are entitled to ask who is policing the police?
The details of this latest incident have been passed on to Human Rights group, Justice Watch Ireland and discussions have begun with the man’s lawyer with a view to making an official complaint.
If something similar has happened to you please contact Justice Watch Ireland:
admin@justicewatchireland.com
or contact us here at 107 Cowgate:
107cowgate@gmail.com
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