AS THE funeral of Mr Ian Lyons, was taking place yesterday, the RUC announced the setting up of a special unit to try to apprehend those responsible for recent suspected IRA murders.
Mr Lyons was killed on New Year's Day as he sat in a car with his girlfriend in Lurgan, Co Armagh. Direct Action Against Drugs, believed to be an IRA front, which had previously admitted three other murders in December, also admitted killing Mr Lyons.
Police said Mr Lyons was known to them but he was not a "major figure" in the drugs trade. At requiem Mass for Mr Lyons in St Paul's Church, Lurgan, Father Brendan Curran said there could be no excuse for Mr Lyons's murder.
He condemned those who had carried out the killing. They had shown no mercy and whether or not they were brought to justice, they would have to answer for their crime in the next life, he told hundreds of mourners. "One day they will have to face their maker and answer for what they have done and atone for the life they have taken," Father Curran said.
The RUC announced the setting up of a special squad of detectives to tackle the rise in killings of alleged drug dealers. Since April 1994 the IRA has been blamed for killing six alleged dealers.
The new RUC unit is headed by Mr Bill Stewart, the assistant chief constable responsible for Belfast, and Det Chief Supt Derek Martindale, head of CID in Belfast. The rem it of the Belfast based squad will be extended if necessary.
Mr Ian Paisley Jnr of the DUP said the killing of Mr Lyons was a squalid sectarian murder. It was sectarian because the victim was a "product of a mixed marriage with close Protestant relatives".
"The fact that it has gone by with the flimsiest of government condemnation highlights just how valueless life is in Northern Ireland to the government. The fact is the IRA is now murdering whoever and whenever it chooses and doing so with impunity," Mr Paisley added.
Mr Declan O'Loan, an SDLP councillor in Ballymena, Co Antrim, said recent killings such as that of Mr Lyons were incompatible with the ceasefire. "They are deeply dangerous to the peace process and no one should minimise the risk implicit in them by attempted excuses about dealing with the drugs problem or alleged unacceptability of the police," he said.
The Lord Mayor of Belfast, the Rev Eric Smyth, called for an end to the killings which, he warned, could lead to an escalation in violence and pose a serious threat to peace. "Drug abuse must be dealt with by the proper authorities," he added.
The RUC chief constable, Sir Hugh Annesley, said he was in no doubt the IRA was responsible for the recent killings of alleged drugs dealers. "I have no doubt whatsoever that it is a flag of convenience. I have no doubt whatsoever that these murders were sanctioned and carried out by the Provisional IRA," he said.
Every resource possible was being devoted to tracking down those responsible for the killings, Sir Hugh added.
