Security alert as RUC ‘diary’ goes missing

By Jack Holland

A car stolen from a shopping center in North Belfast last month has sparked a security alert because it contained the names and addresses of some 20 high-ranking members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary, it has been reported.

The car reportedly belonged to an RUC superintendent who left it near the Abbey Shopping Center. According to one story, in it was his diary containing the officers’ names. Nearly all were of the rank of inspector and chief inspector. But they included also the name of a retired assistant chief constable.

The car was later found burned out in a housing estate in West Belfast.

The police fear that the IRA has taken possession of the diary, or worse, that it may have fallen into the hands of dissident republicans, who have been trying over the last year or so to relaunch the armed campaign. Those named have been offered the option of moving house or installing complex security devices.

This is the second time in 10 years that such an embarrassing security lapse has shaken the RUC. In September 1991, a member of the surveillance unit of the RUC, E4A, left his filofax and personal weapon in his car, which he parked near Queen’s University. When he returned to the vehicle, he found it had been broken into and the filofax and weapon were gone. The filofax contained the names of dozens of security contacts, including the man who helped coordinate operations among MI5, the Special Air Services regiment, and the RUC Special Branch in South Armagh and Tyrone. A short time later, it was confirmed that the material was in the hands of the IRA.

The young E4A officer, who was a 10-year veteran and had a few months earlier won praise for intercepting an IRA mortar bomb attack, resigned from the force.