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Sinn Fein raided in IRA probe
BELFAST, Northern Ireland -- The Stormont offices of republican party Sinn Fein have been raided by police in an unprecedented move as part of a major investigation into IRA activities in Belfast. Other offices across the city were stormed by police on Friday. Several people were arrested and documents seized in a series of searches throughout the north and west of Belfast. Among those held was Denis Donaldson, the head of the administration team at the Northern Ireland Assembly Parliament Buildings, a party spokesman said. Up to 200 police officers were involved in the operation, which a spokesman for Sinn Fein said started at 5 a.m. (0400 GMT). He added the homes targeted were those of community activists involved in policing, human rights and justice issues. A police spokeswoman said: "Police are investigating the activities of republican terrorists in Belfast." She added "one desk and the surrounding area" was searched at the Northern Ireland Assembly and a number of computer disks taken. But security sources insisted the searches and seizures were not connected to the investigation into the theft of Special Branch intelligence files at Castlereagh police station in Belfast last March, which police have blamed on the IRA. The allegations have been denied by republicans. The raids come on the same day three men accused of being members of the IRA go on trial in Colombia for allegedly taking part in the training of rebels. The Northern Ireland peace process is also at a delicate stage with the near collapse of the Good Friday Agreement amid allegations of paramilitary activity from both nationalist and unionists. Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble has threatened to pull out of the power sharing assembly, in which Sinn Fein has two seats. Conor Murphy, Sinn Fein's Newry and Armagh assemblyman accused the police of political intervention. He was quoted by the UK's Press Association as saying: "This is part of their wider anti-Sinn Fein and anti-Irish republican agenda. "We have protested in the strongest possible terms to the British government through the office of the party president Gerry Adams." Anti-agreement MP Jeffrey Donaldson said he did not believe that Stormont should be out of bounds to the police.
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