The four RIRA members, who are on trial for conspiring to kill members of the security forces, were arrested in connection with the discovery of a primed rocket launcher in Coalisland, Co. Tyrone, in May 2002.
Donald Mullan, who’s 33, of Dungannon; Brendan O’Connor, 25, of Pomeroy; Sean Dillon, 26, of Coalisland, and Kevin Barry Murphy, 33, of Coalisland, all deny that they had been planning to attack the security forces and claim that O’Connor lured them to a field to carry out a burglary the night of the arrests.
The claim that O’Connor was an informant arose in an application by the men’s lawyers to change the nature of their defense. They claim that they were not in possession of the rocket launcher and that O’Connor deliberately brought them to the field so that the PSNI could arrest them.
Twenty-four-year-old O’Connor, who originates from Armagh, went missing last May while traveling to Dundalk Garda station in County Louth. O’Connor had to attend the station on a weekly basis as part of a remand charge for membership of the RIRA. He has yet to be found.
Both the PSNI and O’Connor’s family have blamed the Provisional IRA for his abduction and murder. Family members claimed that he had been killed because of an argument with a senior member of the PIRA in Armagh.
However non-aligned republicans in the South Armagh area have denied that the PIRA were responsible, instead alleging O’Connor was killed as the RIRA feared he was passing on information about the organization to police. The PIRA issued a statement last August denying that it had murdered O’Connor.
The RIRA, which was responsible for the Omagh bombing in 1998 that killed 29 people, is said to be a deeply paranoid grouping. It has been widely infiltrated by agents operating for both the British and Irish governments and many of its senior operators are now behind bars.
Its leader, County Louth native Michael McKevitt, was convicted of directing terrorism by the Irish Special Criminal Court last year. Crucial to the state’s case was the testimony of American FBI agent David Rupert. He had infiltrated the republican breakaway group and was also passing on information to British MI5.
Rupert’s evidence proved embarrassing for the RIRA. He claimed that both he and McKevitt had at one stage discussed possible Iraqi sponsorship of the RIRA.