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The Insider

As undercover cop- let's call him Paddy Craig- has lifted the lid on the murky world of Ireland's drug-smuggling gangs.

Jason O'Toole, 05 Nov 2008

Senior gardai recruited an RUC officer to go undercover and infiltrate some of the biggest drug gangs in the country, an explosive new book will reveal.

Paddy Craig – a pseudonym of a former member of the Criminal Investigation Division of the RUC – apparently breached the upper echelons of some of Ireland’s most notorious gangs, including John Gilligan’s, when he posed as a haulier looking to make some extra cash by transporting drugs across the continent. So successful was Craig that he managed to lead the Gardai to some of their biggest ever hauls, including a €5 million shipment of cannabis back in 1998. He cites the interception of a €20 million heroin consignment, organised by Kurdish rebels and destined for Europe, as his biggest triumph.

But how was an RUC man recruited by the Irish government?

“I spent 10 years doing covert operations,” he explains. “I was the first undercover guy in the specialist field of criminal intelligence. I got involved through Special Operations in Scotland Yard. You were a sort of gun for hire. Basically, the Chief Constable of Manchester or Scotland Yard, would ring my Chief Constable and say, ‘Can I have a couple of your undercover people?’ The Chief Constable here – it was Ronnie Flanagan at the time – was such a giving guy (laughs) that he never said no!

“A lot of people thought that the Gardai and the RUC wouldn’t talk to one another but the Garda Commissioner used to ring Ronnie Flanagan regularly. And we were just dispatched to Dublin Castle, and we were under the orders of the Gardai. We stood up when the Garda officers came in and said, ‘What do you want, Sir?’ And we did what they told us what to do.

He elaborates: “It was a fantastic relationship. When I was first introduced around Dublin Castle, you could see looks of animosity. But there was also friendliness. The animosity was quickly overcome. Of course we didn’t trust anyone! The special teams in the Gardai didn’t trust the rank and file Gardai. We didn’t trust rank and file RUC! So, we’d be in a situation where most of the time – on both sides of the border – only the Chief Constables and the senior officers would know that we were operating. I remember some TDs asking, ‘Is it true that British agents are operating in Ireland?’ As if we were operating for MI5. But, of course, we were working for the Irish government (laughs).”



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Jason O'Toole

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