GAO/OSI-00-18R Irish Terrorists Not Linked to International Drug Trafficking

United States General Accounting Office

Washington, DC 20548

Office of Special Investigations

B-286317

September 29, 2000

The Honorable Charles E. Grassley

Chairman

Caucus on International Narcotics Control

United States Senate

Subject: No Information to Link Irish Terrorist Organizations to International

Narcotics Trafficking

Dear Mr. Chairman:

As requested, enclosed with this letter is a copy of a briefing that GAO’s Office of

Special Investigations gave to William Olson, Staff Director, Senate Caucus on

International Narcotics Control on September 20, 2000. At that time, we presented

the results of the work that you had requested: to determine, through the cognizant

authorities, if Irish terrorist organizations are engaged in international narcotics

trafficking.

As background, Irish terrorist organizations are classified into two main groups:

Loyalist (Protestant) and Republican (Catholic). The Loyalist terrorist organizations

operate mainly in Northern Ireland (Ulster), while the Republican terrorists operate

in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

Irish and British law enforcement officials provided no information that Irish terrorist

organizations are engaged in international narcotics trafficking. However, some

Loyalist and Republican terrorist organizations are engaged in street-level narcotics,

dealing in such drugs as heroin, cocaine, ecstasy, and cannabis (marijuana). Irish

police officials believe that shootings of major drug dealers in Belfast and Dublin

were related to in-country conflicts and not international narcotics trafficking.

We interviewed knowledgeable officials of the U.S. government (Drug Enforcement

Administration and U.S. Customs Service), Irish Customs and Excise, Garda Siochana

(Irish National Police), Royal Ulster Constabulary, British Customs and Excise,

United Nations Drug Control Program, and European Police Office.
B-286317

Page 2 GAO/OSI-00-18R Irish Terrorists Not Linked to International Drug Trafficking

We will make copies of this letter available to others. If you have any questions,

please contact Assistant Director Patrick Sullivan at (202) 512-6722. Senior Special

Agent Thomas Wiley was a key contributor to this case.

Sincerely yours,

Robert H. Hast

Assistant Comptroller General

for Special Investigations
Enclosure I

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BRIEFING PAPER

No Information to Link Irish Terrorist Organizations

to International Narcotics Trafficking

Highlights of Findings

According to Irish and British law enforcement officials and corroboration from other

sources, all of the Irish terrorist organizations—Loyalist and Republican—are

engaged in some type of criminal activity to support their organizations financially.

Further, the Loyalist and Republican terrorist organizations—with the exception of

one Republican group noted below—routinely engage in acts of violence, including

murder.

Irish Terrorist Organizations

Irish and British law enforcement officials with jurisdiction over illicit drug

trafficking identified the following Loyalist and Republican terrorist organizations

and provided the following information about them.

Loyalist Terrorist Organizations

• Ulster Defense Association – The largest Loyalist terrorist organization. Its

political wing is the Ulster Democratic Party.

• Ulster Freedom Fighters – A more militant faction within the Ulster Defense

Association.

• Ulster Volunteer Force – The second largest Loyalist terrorist organization, which

has been in existence since the mid-1960s.

• Loyalist Volunteer Force – Formed in 1996 by members of the Ulster Volunteer

Force who were opposed to the Irish peace process.

Republican Terrorist Organizations

• Irish Republican Army (IRA), also known as the Provisional IRA

• Provisional IRA – One of two factions of the IRA, formed in the early 1970s

when the IRA split. The Provisional IRA supported the use of force to unite

Ireland. It is the largest, best equipped, and best financed of the Republican

terrorist groups and officially and publicly takes an anti-drug stance. Its

political wing is Sinn Fein.

Direct Action Against Drugs is the cover name used by the Provisional IRA,

ostensibly to promote the “official,” public anti-drug position of the Provisional

IRA. Direct Action Against Drugs has taken credit for killing and wounding
Enclosure I

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drug dealers.

• Real IRA – Formed in 1997 by dissident members of the Provisional IRA

who rejected the political leadership of Sinn Fein. The Real IRA claimed

responsibility for the August 1998 bombing of Omagh, Northern Ireland,

which left 28 dead and hundreds injured. After this bombing, the Real IRA

called a cease-fire.

• Continuity IRA – Continues to reject the peace process and draws its

support from radicals formerly associated with the Provisional IRA and the

Real IRA. Its political wing is Republican Sinn Fein.

• Official IRA – The second of two factions formed from the IRA split in the

1970s. The Official IRA renounced violence and supported a political solution

to uniting Ireland. Its members are actively involved in criminal activity,

largely financial crime. Its political wing is the Irish Workers’ Party.

• Irish National Liberation Army – Formed by the more violent criminal

element formerly associated with the Official IRA. Its political wing is the

Irish Republican Socialist Party.

Irish Terrorists’ Local, Not International, Narcotics Trafficking

Although Irish and British law enforcement officials and other corroborating sources

had no evidence to link Irish terrorist organizations and international narcotics

trafficking, we learned that some Loyalist and Republican terrorist organizations are

engaged in street-level narcotics dealing. The narcotics include such drugs as heroin,

cocaine, ecstasy, and cannabis.

According to Irish law enforcement officials, Loyalist terrorist organizations control

most organized criminal activity, including street-level drug dealing, in the Protestant

neighborhoods of Northern Ireland. The Loyalist groups are not as sophisticated as

Republican terrorist organizations and do not have access to the same international

network of terrorist and criminal connections.

Also according to Irish law enforcement officials, Republican terrorists control

organized criminal activity in Northern Ireland, except in the neighborhoods

controlled by the Loyalist terrorists, and in parts of the Republic of Ireland. In these

areas, narcotics traffickers can operate only with the acquiescence of the Republican

terrorists.

In addition, we learned that Direct Action Against Drugs, a cover name for the

Provisional IRA, has publicly acknowledged killing and wounding drug dealers in

Belfast and Dublin. That terrorist group initiated these actions ostensibly to support

the Provisional IRA’s anti-drug position. However, police officials believe that the

drug dealers were shot because they had failed to pay “protection” money to the

Provisional IRA. Further, counter to the Provisional IRA’s official anti-drug position,

individual members of the Provisional IRA, the Continuity IRA, and the Real IRA are
Enclosure I

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known to engage in drug smuggling/dealing activities. The Irish National Liberation

Army also regularly engages in street-level drug dealing.

Additional Illegal Activities by Irish Terrorists

According to Irish law enforcement officials, Republican terrorists are expert at

international smuggling operations and have established relationships with other

terrorist organizations and criminal organizations throughout the world. The

Provisional IRA has been very successful in smuggling weapons into the Republic of

Ireland, Northern Ireland, and Great Britain. That terrorist group also controls the

smuggling of untaxed tobacco products, untaxed liquor, and counterfeit consumer

goods (e.g., CDs, videotapes, watches, and clothing) into Northern Ireland. In

addition, the Official IRA is expert at international financial crimes, including tax

fraud schemes, money laundering, and counterfeiting. According to these same law

enforcement officials, the eventual large-scale international smuggling of narcotics

may be the inevitable natural progression of these activities.

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