LONDON - The Irish Republican Army has joined forces with British criminal gangs to smuggle millions of pounds (euros/dollars) worth of contraband into Britain, the BBC reported Tuesday.
The IRA, the outlawed paramilitary linked to the Catholic party Sinn Fein, has adapted structures once used to import weapons into Northern Ireland for international criminal operations instead, the BBC investigation found.
It said that an investigation by its radio news program "File on 4" found that British criminal gangs were used to distribute millions of pounds worth of cigarettes and diesel fuel into Britain.
Bill Lowry, the former chief of Belfast's anti-terrorist police squad, said ties between the IRA and the gangs were formed in prison, and had resulted in a "very, very good network".
"They have a network within the criminal community in mainland UK, a number of them did a lot of jail time in the high-security jails and made good friends, so they have contacts that are out there," he said.
The report comes amid furor over IRA criminal activity in Northern Ireland, notably the killing of a Catholic man in Belfast whose family has accused IRA members of the murder and of intimidation that has kept witnesses from coming forward.
Ireland says nearly five million liters (one million gallons) of laundered gas is smuggled across the Irish Sea into Britain by the IRA alone, according to customs officials cited by the BBC.
The British broadcaster also noted several recent seizures in Ireland of contraband bound for Britain, including several trucks disguised as general cargo vehicles but converted into gas tankers.
A report last year by Northern Ireland's Organized Crime Task Force found a total of 235 criminal gangs operating in the British-ruled province, including 85 labelled the "most serious, dangerous and well-organized groups" with international links.
It said traffic in counterfeit goods alone, from fake Irish football jerseys made in Turkey to billions of cigarettes shipped from China, was worth 152 million pounds (292 million dollars, 218 million euros) a year.
The IRA and dissident breakaway factions, like the Real IRA, smuggle cheaper goods either by sea, or across the 515-kilometer (320-mile) land border with the Irish Republic.
Republicans haul tanker loads of doctored fuel over the border from Ireland, where it is cheaper, removing the green dye of Irish agricultural diesel and replacing it with the red coloring used in Britain.
The toxic waste byproduct is then dumped in farmers' fields, according to police.
For its part, the Ulster Defence Association, Northern Ireland's biggest Protestant militia, specializes in armed robberies, drug trafficking and prostitution rings, officials say.
03/15/2005 11:47 GMT