Strabane man claims informer approach
Derry Journal
03 November 2009
A Strabane republican has claimed the PSNI attempted to recruit him as an informer after he was stopped at a checkpoint in the town last week.
A spokesperson for the 32 County Sovereignty Movement (32CSM) said the man was given a telephone number to call by the PSNI if he was willing to provide information on republicans.
“This young man was stopped at a checkpoint in Strabane last week and was taken around a corner by the police where he was approached by two other men who asked him to become an informer. They gave him a mobile phone number to ring if he was interested,” the 32CSM spokesperson claimed.
This telephone number was given to the ‘Journal’ and when a reporter dialled the number it was answered by a man calling himself ‘Brendan’ who asked if the caller remembered him. When the reporter identified himself and asked if ‘Brendan’ worked for the PSNI, he replied; “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
The 32CSM spokesperson also claimed the PSNI officers who stopped the man made references to Strabane republican John Brady, who was found dead while in police custody in Derry last month.
“They mentioned John Brady and said he had spent 18 years in jail and then taken his own life and that the same future lay in store for this young man if he involved himself in republicanism,” he said. Mr Brady’s family have rejected reports that he took his own life.
The spokesperson also called for anyone who may have been approached by the PSNI in similar circumstances to contact them.
“We would appeal to anyone who has been asked to work as an informer to get in touch with us and they will find a sympathetic ear,” he said.
'So venceremos, beidh bua againn eigin lá eigin. Sealadaigh abú.'
--Bobby Sands