NINE SUSPECTS were last night being held for questioning as part of the police investigations into the dissident republican murders of last week. Further arrests are expected today as the investigation makes headway.
Chief Constable Sir Hugh Orde said yesterday that the separate investigations into the killing of two British soldiers and that of a PSNI constable were “progressing very well indeed”.
He said dissident group members were known to the police and their organisations had been infiltrated by security force agents.
The Irish Timeswas told last night there had been a "significant upturn" in the investigation into the murders of two soldiers at the Massereene army base in Antrim town.
This follows a police reconstruction of the scene on Saturday night, exactly one week after army engineers Mark Quinsey (23) from Birmingham and Patrick Azimkar (21) from London were shot dead by the Real IRA.
Four arrests have been made in connection with the soldiers’ killings, including that of republican Colin Duffy from Lurgan, Co Armagh.
Rioting broke out following the arrests in Lurgan, with police coming under attack from masked men throwing stones and petrol bombs. Two arrests were made in connection with the disturbances, which were quickly brought under control.
Two other arrests were made in the Lurgan area and in Bellaghy, Co Derry. Those suspects are being detained and questioned at the PSNI serious crime suite in Antrim.
According to a trusted and well-placed police source, the PSNI has adopted a “slower approach” to the arrest of suspects, with some of the 350 detectives on the two cases “waiting to arrest” suspects rather than carrying out early detentions.
The PSNI is being helped by members of the British security service MI5 and by “intelligence specialists” called in by Sir Hugh just over a week ago to help counter the dissident republican threat.
He restated yesterday he would not be calling in any other British military support.
Forensic officers are continuing to examine the getaway car recovered near Randalstown, some 8km (five miles) from the Massereene base. They hope this will provide what has been described as “considerable forensic opportunities”.
They are also examining a weapon recovered by officers investigating the murder of Constable Stephen Carroll (48), shot dead by the Continuity IRA in Craigavon on Monday last. They are trying to establish if it is the murder weapon.
Five arrests have been made in connection with this investigation.
Sir Hugh, in a series of interviews over the weekend, insisted the PSNI was equal to the task of countering the dissident threat.
He claimed that both the Real IRA and the Continuity IRA were poorly organised and rife with security force agents.
He told the BBC and the News of the Worldthat dissident republicans numbered about 300 in total, and many were known to the police.
Referring to the upsurge in dissident activity, Sir Hugh said: “We must put this into perspective. These groups are small in number. The Real and Continuity IRA are disrupted, infiltrated and disorganised. The current wisdom is that they number around 300 in a population of 1.75 million.”
He added: “We have identified many of them. We are working flat out with the security services and other specialists to disrupt and arrest them and lock them up for the rest of their natural lives. Their current focus, in my judgment, is to attack my officers and we will meet that head on.”