Dissidents and the Drugs War Spotlight

Dissident republicans are killing people they claim are drug dealers,

so what has that got to do with their war? You struggle to find the

actual struggle in what they are doing. And what happens when the

drug dealer hits back? If you shoot one drug dealer, 10 others pop up.

These things escalators go beyond control. These organised gangs are

armed to the teeth and they are An afternoon last month in north

Dublin. The Real IRA leader Alan Ryan is openly strolling with

friends in the area he has built His murder is an astonishing

challenge to the Real IRA by Dublin's drug gangs. And they had

dared to kill the most senior Real IRA figure in the city. While there

may be a perception in Northern Ireland that organised crime gangs

would never take on members he of the IRA, that does not exist south

of the border. A lot of the criminal groups are manned by young

men who live chaotic lives, are very well armed, and would think

nothing of going off and murdering more republicans if they have do.

Drug dealers control the city, not the public call the police, and

they think they are in pitched well and they have taken out the biggest

achieve. -- that they are Alan Ryan was allegedly arming and

killing drug dealers in Northern Ireland. His murder has been viewed

by the Real IRA as an act of war. The dissident groups initial

response was a Major show of strength at the funeral, which

shocked the Republic establishment. Were new have a 1,000 people

marching through a suburb in north Dublin led by an IRA colour party,

that took the government by surprise, that is not something

that is seen. You might have 50 dissidents in the country, but I

think that page truth to that life. There is a more serious problem

developing south of the border than anyone would like to admit or had

realised. They weren't all republicans, they weren't all

dissidence, but the vast majority were there because they saw what he

was doing in relation to the drugs issue. The dissidents have tried to

get national support by a killing alleged drug dealers. Last week

they also blamed for murdering a small-time dealer Danny McCain in

north Belfast. People in the street say they heard about half a dozen

shops and a car speeding off. They are building on a strategy first

used by the Provisional IRA nearly 20 years ago. What you see the

dissidents do is Borough pages from the Book of the IRA. That is

sending messages from criminals and the community, but also sending a

message but they are here to protect you. But with the murder of

Alan Ryan, the dissidents face something that the Provisional IRA

didn't, dealers to fight back. So have the Real IRA miscalculated in

taking on the drug gangs? In trying to use this issue to build support

are they getting sucked into a battle that can never be one?

Tonight on Spotlight we assess the deadly confrontation and we ask

what is happening within dissident republicanism north and south?

gloves are off. There are no boundaries, no limits and the Real

IRA with the death of Alan Ryan realise this will be a serious

battle and whoever blinks first will be gone. So why and how did

the Real IRA get themselves so wrapped up in the volatile Dublin

drugs scene? Surprisingly, part of the story can be traced back here,

a sleepy corner of County Down. For decades, Dublin has wrestled with a

growing and exceptionally violent criminal underworld. One that has

produced a series of crime bosses, men like David Lindsay. Nicknamed

Baby face by the tabloid press, he and an associate disappeared in

July 2008. 10 months later, they go unexpectedly arrived at a bungalow,

informing the unsuspected owners that the properties had to be

searched. The house had been rented out, and underneath a floor inside,

police found traces of blood and DNA belonging to David Lindsay and

his friend. David Lindsay and his associate had disappeared off the

streets of the republic. But the belief is that they died violently,

here, in a remote part of Northern Ireland. Their bodies have never

been found. To this day, the PSNI refused to discuss the case. If you

think the Dublin drug war stops at the border, think again. There is

no limits today in the savagery and lends these people will go, which

has reached depths of depravity that we had not even imagined.

Lindsay is believed to have been murdered by this man, Michael Kelly,

also known as the Panda. The killing helped make Killick --

Kelly a Major figure in the Dublin underworld. But he was murdered as

well, allegedly by a Real IRA gang led by Alan Ryan. The killing was

the dissident statement of intent, that they would now be controlling

the crime scene in the city. Crime Correspondent Alan Sherry has

brought me to the streets were Alan Ryan's gang was based, close to

where they reportedly killed Kelly. How did that take Alan Ryan to

another level? That marked him out as the main player on the scene in

that gangland. There was no doubt that these people were not to be

messed with. In the Dublin crime scene, extreme violence appears to

pay. Gangland killings on the rise. Gerry O'Carroll investigated over

80 murders. He was the inspiration for the character in this movie

about Dublin's original crime boss. He was known as the general. A

retired detective thinks the film romanticised his relationship with

Cahill, but he considers it a classic. They think I know your

wiles and ways, but it can only end one way, Martin, keep on like this.

Before he was murdered by the Provisional IRA, K Hill predicted

this new generation of extremely violent gangs -- Cahill. He said in

his inimitable Dublin accent, if you think I'm bad, wait and see

what's coming behind me. And his words have become chillingly

fulfilled, because the modern breed of gangsters that run the drugs

scene in this country are literally beyond comparison. These are

psychopaths, often on cocaine, up to the eyeballs, believing

themselves to be invincible. They have displayed a viciousness and

ruthlessness and a savagery that is unparalleled, and makes other old

time gangsters look like Sunday- school boys. The brutal gang

warfare has taken innocent lives. Apprentice plumber Anthony Campbell

was working in a house that, unknown to him, was occupied by a

Major drug dealer. He was fixing a radiator when two gunmen walked in.

They obviously went in with faces on, and because Anthony would have

been able to identify them, he just was shot. He was shot through the

hand he raised in self-defence. was 20, not even a man. Still

finding himself. Out doing an honest day's living. Alan Ryan

would impose himself on this chaotic drugs war. He grew up on

Dublin's north side, and from a younger age was schooled in

militant republicanism. As a teenager around the time of the

Good Friday Agreement, he joined the Real IRA. He first came to

public attention in 1999. He was one of six men arrested at a Real

IRA underground training camp in County Meath. He was jailed for

four years also up he had been in jail in Port Laoise, and he'd

obviously become staunchly republican in jail, if not

beforehand. The when he came out he got involved in running doors on

the pubs and bit by bit they were taking on small-scale drug dealers.

As well as starting to flex his muscles in Dublin, Ryan also became

an important figure in the Real IRA as a whole. It would be fair to say,

as far as we know, who -- she was a Major figure in the Real IRA. This

was a Major figure engaged in activities that were contrary to

the well-being of most people on this island that were intent on

bringing us back to the bad old days. According to journalist,

Ryan's Dublin unit acted as a fundraiser and supplier for fellow

dissidents in the north. Dating back to the Provisional IRA, Dublin

republicans would provide logistical support to IRA units

north of the border, and Alan Ryan would have provided something

similar. What they do is generate money, provide stolen cars and

provide guns whenever they can. They need the money for the

organisation. Dublin seems to be, from what they can tell, is where

the main and out of money is coming from for the organisation, so it

seems that Alan was given a licence to do what he needed to do to raise

the money. If you are sending up the cash, you need to tackle the

drugs gangs, you have our backing. Much of the money Alan Ryan raised

went overboard into Northern Ireland to the Real IRA's most

significant stronghold. We have come to Londonderry to follow that

money trail. Spotlight has learned that included Ryan fronting an

operation smuggling cigarettes But his frequent visits to the city

were about more than this. Because Derry is where he would meet up

with hardline republican associates. Ryan's friends claim he was a

militant republican, but not involved in organised crime.

That prominent spokesman for the 32 County sovereignty Movement has one

The Alan Ryan I knew was a genuine, committed Republican, very kind and

very generous person. He was a socialist and cared about his

community and Alan had a social conscience. That's right, yes, Alan

a member of the 32 County Sovereignty Movement, he would have

attended meetings, Sovereignty meetings, he would have been a

familiar face on protests, pickets and similar activities. You are

saying you knew him as a political person, the person that the media

has talked about is someone that they would say was a crime boss.

Definitely not, no. That couldn't be further from the truth. He was

the leader eventually of the real IRA in Dublin, so he wasn't a choir

boy. There is a difference between not being a choir boy and being a

crime boss. Alan wasn't a criminal, Alan Moss and a gangster. Allen may

have been portrayed as such by certain tabloid newspapers. The

reality is that there is not one shred of evidence to support these

accusations. There was no doubt in my mind that these were accusations

that were being fed to sections of the media by the Free State

Establishment. It was in Derry that the Real IRA's campaign against

drugs first came to prominence. It was here that we learned the

dissident groups relationship with the drugs scene may be more complex

than it first appears. A short drive outside the city. What

happened at this location became a major embarrassment for the Real

IRA. From the outside this House looks like any other, but inside

the police found a cannabis factory with an estimated street value of

half a million euro. In January 2010 the house have been filled

with quiet -- with cannabis plants and going equipment. The difficult

for the Real IRA was that this house was owned by one of the most

senior members. The dissidents now had a drugs problem. The house

belonged to this man, Seamus McGreevy, one of the Real IRA's

most senior figures. After the discovery, Seamus McGreevy was

found dead, believed to have killed himself. It was now imperative for

the dissident group that they distance themselves from the Drug

House and the implication they may have been involved. They did so in

the most brutal fashion. The house was being looked after by Kieran

Doherty, an ex Real IRA member from Derry. On a February night in 2010,

he was found shot dead outside the city. Q and uncle, Vincent Coyle,

has brought me to the place where his nephew was killed. Kieran was

once a close friend of Alan Ryan. But it's the family's belief that

the murder involve the Dublin Real IRA, setting out an air crusade

against drugs. This is such a beautiful quiet spot, Vincent, yet

something terrible happened here. This is one of the most picturesque

places in the city. What actually happened to Kieran that night? On

the night that he left the house. He left to meet friends that he

travelled from the Republic to meet them. It's a belief that Kieran was

brought to the spot naked. The police believe that there was no

struggle on the night. They believe that he knew the people he was with.

Q&A be believed he would be kneecapped. Instead, they kept him

going to the last minutes and shot him twice to their head. When he

lay on the ground, once more to the heart. His like this body lay on

the ground while his blood ran down this hill. Why is it that you're

connecting Alan Ryan's debt to Kieran step? It's the belief of the

family that Alan Ryan would have known about Kieran's debt and would

have known the background to his death. The fact that he was a

member of the Real IRA, that Kieran was an ex-member and its that many

years in prison with Alan Ryan. He would have had to know the

circumstances under which Kieran died. Last week, the police

detective investigating Kieran's murder revealed he had tried but

failed to extradite someone from what he referred to as another

jurisdiction. Spotlight has learnt that this man was in fact the

senior Real IRA member in Dublin, and close associate of Alan Ryan.

The Real IRA have officially said that Kieran Dougherty was murdered

for involvement in drugs. But the Dougherty family has always

rejected this, amid suggestions Kieran was made the scapegoat for

the Donegal drugs house. The link between two Real IRA figures and a

drugs factory was deeply suspicious. It led to speculation the

organisation was more closely involved in the drugs trade than it

cared to admit. But they insist it does not deal in drugs. A I think

the death of Kieran Dougherty was very tragic, particularly for his

family. It seems to be that drugs again are at the centre of this and

the young man lost his life I feel it is a very tragic situation. It

would say that the republican stance is consistent against drugs.

Would you agreed with killing drug dealers? Well, how to deal with

drug dealers? Drug dealers aren't the type of people who you can sit

down and written with. Q and Dougherty's murder brought the Real

IRA very publicly into line with another group in Derry, Republican

Action Against Drugs, set up solely to target dealers. Spotlight

witnessed the beginnings of this merger in June. During a PSNI

search by officers investigating republicans against -- Republican

Action Against drugs, dissident republicans turned out in support,

including Gary Donnelly of the 32 County Sovereignty Movement. Then

this happened. BOMB GHOST, all. Around the corner, at PSNI vehicle

was hit by a blast bomb. This was the first moment to its

organisation first to a De Wet Barry -- in their weaponry on

police officers. It was also the first signal they were a line with

the Real IRA. In July, a statement issued announcing a new

organisation, calling themselves the IRA. The Real IRA was very keen

to lose their own name and identity. They are publicly associated with

the murder of 29 people and unborn twins at home in 1988. They never

recovered after that. So there were quite keen on amalgamating with

another gripping. It's an old thread dressed up and a new name.

You have a coalition, so it is there any mystery is there any

secret about what this new coalition and balls? No, there's

not. These people, to borrow a phrase that was used many years ago,

these people are the same people in different balaclavas. Despite did

edition of rap, people still continue to refer to the gripping

as the Real IRA. But the organisation has also been

strengthened further by the addition of independent dissidents,

including those believed to have murdered Constable Ronan Kerr last

year in a coma. The so republican grouping had a lot of technical

expertise in terms of producing bombs and avoiding detection from

the security services. That is what makes a very dangerous.

operation there was exposed in Dublin demonstrated just how

dangerous and ambitious the new group can be. Former Garda

inspector Gerry O'Carroll has from the to the place where Gardai

uncovered a wheels -- a Real IRA surveillance plot designed to

collect intelligence and police officers. A my right here is guard

headquarters, were specialised police units are based. It was on a

building but the Real IRA surveillance team were based here

at Blaha Court Hotel. Last month, Gardai discovered dissidents had

set up recording and photographic equipment there without the hotel's

knowledge and were spying on Dublin's top police teams.

close quite extraordinary. But these gangsters would have the

audacity to coming here to a building opposite Garda

headquarters, a building that is used by many officers for

socialising. It has serious, serious and sinister implications

for the safety and security of the state and for the safety and

security of the personnel in this building. What does it say about

the intent and capabilities of the dissidents? It shows what they're

capable of doing. But these people are as serious, serious threat now

under threat is growing. The menace of the Real IRA grows by the day.

It is a keeper Billy Kirby been directed more towards a drugs war

than a so-called armed struggle in Northern Ireland? And, if so, why?

We has also done -- we have spoken the dissident republicans who

recognise the right across roads. At a time when they are we

organising, they are in danger of getting sucked into a prolonged its

drug war. So why have the Real IRA got themselves embroiled in a war

that drug dealers in Dublin? Mon me. The traditional ways of raising

money for the paramilitaries with bank robberies, post-office

robberies, kidnappings, although the last number of years, the tiger

kidnappings were a serious problem. That's no longer a cash cow. That's

no longer feasible. Are people in the Gardai here are more effective.

So, the path of least resistance has been drug money. They know that

the drug dealers and the drug kingpins in this city are making

vast, vast, vast amounts of money. The know that he could take get a

percentage of it, it'll be enough to finance the organisation, to

supply them that guns, ammunition and logistics. So a duty sources

also claimed that the Real IRA are taxing drug-dealers. Publicly

opposed to drugs, but privately raising funds by pocketing drugs

profits. I am not going to travel into areas and intelligence. But

certainly an number of the subversive organisations that

travel under particular banners, there was no doubt that on

occasions they make a pretence of being opposed to the use of drugs

and to the drug gangs, while simultaneously trying to raise

funding derived from the illegal sale of drugs. The thing that

dissident world, you have people who may be involved in a struggle,

as they describe it. It is about Brits out and uniting Ireland. But

you have other people in that will to are involved in crime and their

participation in those organisations is a cover for what

they really up to. So, they may target drug dealers, shoot them,

but within a world there are people who are drug dealers and to also

involved in drugs crime. This against denied this, but whatever

the reason for the drugs battle, it is getting more intense. And Dublin

is braced for the reprisals that the Real IRA have promised in

response Alan Ryan's killing. this could drag on for years. Kind

of what has happened now, I think the Real IRA are certainly going to

have to retaliate to show that they have the strength to take them on

and whether that means taking on the people who did it, which am

sure they will, but there will probably go after regular drug

dealers and say any drug dealers are a Jew -- are a legitimate

target night because they have taken on the Real IRA and if anyone

operating in North Dublin in drugs I would be worried. The question is,

can the Real IRA gain more support by confronting the dealers, or have

they got right into drugs were they can win? I believe the Real IRA had

it not more than they can chew. They have totally underestimated

the will and the actual firepower and the strength of the double that

-- of the Dublin organised crime has now reached in the city. These

organised gangs are absolutely armed to the teeth and they are

ferocious in their reprisals. can should want to a dealer and you

get 10 others pop up. It makes no impact whatsoever. Do what it does

course is that the associate to the person that you have just murdered

will suddenly start targeting you. History has shown in the past 10

years out of the border then went criminal gangs were feuding with

anyone, it actually doesn't stop. These things escalate a double

control. I am not sure that the dissident paramilitaries, for all

their bluster, want to get into that sort of long running feud with

criminal groups in Dublin, because they are as well on this them.

even so, the dissident republican war on drugs now seems to be

spreading. When gunmen shot Danny McKie last Thursday night on the

outskirts of North Belfast, dissident republicans were linked

to the murder. Danny McKay was a low-level drug dealer, and if you

have but low-level figure being taken out in what has been

described as a high-level assassination. The people but the

police are looking at as possibly being involved and that shooting,

spanned both criminal and the dissident world. And that is the

coup -- that is that confusion, that criss-crossing of lines, and

that collusion in that world in which these people move.

dissident groups are populated by both militant republicans and

organised criminals. Bill which should be strands is more likely to

take control of the future direction of an organisation like

the Real IRA? It is impossible to forecast what is likely to happen.

I think this combined dissident IRA organisation could go one of two

ways. It could try and replicate a Provisional IRA tight organisation,

which is what they want. There is as much or unequal the chance that

you going to see that grouping and the other groups mutating into a

kind of large-scale criminal operation. I think there were

people of both types within that organisation now and it is very

difficult to see who will come to the fore. You struggle to find the

armed struggle in what they're doing. You struggle to find their

confrontation with the British state. Yes, they have targeted

police officers and, yes, but is a real threat. But those looking at

them can see the crossroads. There are people who are there for what

they were term as it calls and there are people there for self-

interest. The question that people ask about all of these things is

when a lookalike? When does that friction become an internal feud

between does to her about fighting a war and those who are interested

in crime? The sudden tragic reality is that there must be some

possibility that some individual in the future of will lose their lives

in similar events. I would hope that is not the case. There was

little point in appealing to these people to desist from this type of

conduct because, from bitter experience on the silent, we know