Imported loyalist paramilitary weapons were 'moved to safety' from Co Armagh farm after 'police warning' about imminent raid, Belfast High Court hears

An officer phoned James Mitchell just before his land was searched for the deadly shipment smuggled into Northern Ireland back in 1988 under a joint arrangement by three groupings.

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Intelligence on the tripartite deal by the UDA, UVF and Ulster Clubs to procure arms from overseas emerged in legal actions over their use in subsequent murders.

In the first disclosure of its kind, the details feature in an agreed summary of sensitive material held by the PSNI and Ministry of Defence (MoD) on the importation of hundreds of rifles, pistols and grenades from South Africa. Further information must remain confidential to protect national security.

Patrick Frizzell and Margaret Lundy are both suing the police and MoD amid allegations the arsenal of weapons was allowed to be brought into Northern Ireland and distributed among paramilitary groups for use in a series of killings.

In March 1991 Mr Frizzell’s brother, Brian Frizzell, was shot dead by the UVF in Craigavon, Co Armagh.

Mrs Lundy’s husband, Alan Lundy, was gunned down by a UDA unit at the west Belfast home of Sinn Fein representative Alex Maskey in May 1993.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs claim the security forces knew about the arrival of the arms shipment but did nothing to intercept it.

It is also alleged that detectives were not informed about intelligence that the weapons were being stored at Mitchell’s farm in January 1988.

Mitchell, a former RUC reserve officer who died in 2008, had a conviction for a previous arms dump discovered on his premises near Glenanne during the 1970s.

With writs lodged in connection with a number of other legacy killings containing similar allegations about the imported guns, Mr Justice Humphreys set out the full summary, or gist, of the information which can be made public.

The court heard how the UDA, UVF and Ulster Clubs - a network of organisations which operated at the time - were making efforts to source weapons across Europe, the Middle East and North America.

In July 1987 loyalist paramilitaries robbed the Portadown branch of the Northern Bank in a bid to finance an arms deal, according to intelligence. Later that year MI5 learned that a major consignment may be coming in from South Africa, and began researching shipping routes. Based on estimates, the total shipment included 200 rifles, 100 pistols, 24 boxes of grenades and 48 boxes of ammunition.

Documents in the case indicate senior UDA figures learned in January 1988 that the container full of arms had cleared customs, were in the hands of an unknown intermediary and being stored at an unknown farm in Co Armagh. The following day police seized some of the imported weapons from two cars stopped in a surveillance operation at Mahon Road in Portadown. The haul included 61 Czech VZ58-type rifles, 30 Browning 9mm pistols, 150 Soviet anti-personnel grenades, ammunition, magazines, and pouches. MI5 assessed it as an impressive list of equipment, out of character with previous loyalist procurements.

Police obtained further information that the weapons had been unloaded and hidden at Mitchell’s farm, where they were to be divided out and collected by the various loyalist organisations. But there was a last-minute change to those arrangements following the seizure of the UDA’s share at Mahon Road.

Reading from the agreed summary, Mr Justice Humphreys said: “Police then went to search Mitchell’s farm, but Mitchell was warned that police were enroute and the remainder of the weapons were removed to a safe location. In 2016 police received information that a police officer made a phone call to Mitchell’s farm before a police search.”

A further 38 VZ58 rifles, 15 pistols, rocket-propelled grenade launcher and 100 hand grenades from the same consignment were recovered when the RUC raided an address at Flush Road in Belfast the following month. Information indicated those weapons were in the possession of the UVF and destined for units throughout Northern Ireland.

At one stage MI5 considered it possible that the South African government had facilitated the shipment - due to the potential involvement of a well-connected American arms dealer - without actually supplying the weapons. Investigators were in no doubt, however, that the UDA was dealing with South African over the supply of a British missile system, the court heard.

Based on intelligence, an unknown proportion of the original consignment had evaded seizure by the security forces and reached the paramilitary groupings.

Amid continued loyalist attempts to gain access to the remainder of the arsenal, it was believed that by the autumn of 1988 the UDA and UVF had lost 70% and a third of their respective allocations.

“As these organisations were the biggest contributors to the deal and had to receive additional weapons to make up for their losses, there was a shortage of weaponry for smaller groups,” Mr Justice Humphreys said.

In November that year the RUC seized a further quantity of the weapons from hides in the Markethill area of Co Armagh. Officers also recovered a stolen Javelin missile aiming device.

The judge added: “After the November weapons seizures, police had information that these weapons represented the majority of the Ulster Clubs/Ulster Resistance share of the January 1988 arms shipment.”

Following disclosure of the gist the plaintiffs’ solicitor Kevin Winters said: “This is a very important ruling with far reaching significance for many of our clients in other linked cases.”