La france cherche que dublin extradite des membres de la rira qui ont organise des caches d armes pres de dieppe en collaboration avec des membres de l armee republicaine bretonne.
The Sunday Times December 24, 2006
France to seek extradition of Real IRA arms suspect
John Mooney
FRENCH anti-terrorist police are to seek the extradition of a Dublin man linked to a Real IRA arms haul intercepted in Brittany.
A French court last week issued an arrest warrant for Kieron Doran, 29, a member of the 32 County Sovereignty Movement, now living openly in Tallaght. Doran was sentenced in his absence to four years’ imprisonment for “criminal association with a terrorist group”.
Another Irishman, Gary Roche, 31, was jailed for four years while a French sympathiser, Bernard le Gac, 60, received a suspended two-year sentence.
Doran is alleged to have played a central role in a conspiracy to smuggle weapons from France to Ireland in 2003. The plot was foiled by a garda-led operation involving the Dutch, French and MI5.
Irish Special Branch officers obtained intelligence that the Real IRA planned to use French musicians to smuggle guns into Ireland. Discreet garda investigations established that six French nationals from Brittany were in secret contact with dissident republicans from Louth. Le Gac had travelled to Ireland to participate in a musical tour.
A source involved in the investigation said: “The Real IRA’s leader, Michael McKevitt, smuggled weapons into Ireland through France in the past. These people were effectively attempting to re-open this smuggling route, which had a proven track record. They believed Le Gac was the perfect smuggler as he had no criminal record and was unknown to the police.”
Special Branch and MI5 had previously thwarted Real IRA arms smuggling operations from the Balkans and the Continent.
“Rather than risk moving the guns through the UK, they decided to approach Le Gac and asked him to help,” the security source said. “He agreed to help and arranged for the weapons to be hidden in a forest until they could be moved to Ireland.”
While it was initially suspected that Le Gac had some involvement with the Breton Revolutionary Army, security sources say he was not a known terrorist or sympathiser.
The Real IRA had purchased the arms from a criminal in Amsterdam. They were smuggled to Brittany in November 2003 where Le Gac met with Doran and Roche who had been tailed from Ireland. The three hid the weapons, including two machine guns, an automatic pistol and two silencers, in a forest near the town of Dieppe in northern France.
The cache was then placed under surveillance by the French secret service, who took control of the operation. Roche and Doran returned to Dublin, where they were arrested. Roche was charged before the Special Criminal Court with membership of the Real IRA but acquitted by the non-jury court. He was later arrested in Portugal and extradited to France to face charges.
It is understood Roche believed that, as he had been acquitted of charges in the Special Criminal Court, he could not be charged in connection with the arms seizure in France.
The Director of Public Prosecutions decided there was not enough evidence to charge Doran in Ireland, but French prosecutors decided to proceed with a case against him in his absence.
Diarmuid O’Sullivan, a detective superintendent who gave evidence at the trial in Paris, told the court that Doran and Roche were aligned to a faction of the Real IRA led by Seamus McGrane, a dissident republican from Co Louth. He said the Real IRA was still committed to violence and endeavouring to disrupt the peace process.
McGrane is suspected of leading a faction of the republican terrorist group previously led by McKevitt, who was sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment in 2003 for directing terrorism.
According to dissident republican sources, Doran has transferred his allegiances to another faction of the Real IRA. He recently opened a Dublin office for the 32 County Sovereignty Movement near his home in Tallaght. Security sources say he is likely to be extradited to France in the New Year.
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