Belfast Telegraph
An undercover MI5 agent involved in a sting against an alleged dissident republican arms smuggling operation has told a court he did not act as an agent provocateur.
In his last day in the witness box at Belfast Crown Court, the operative, known only as ‘Amir’, insisted that at all times he was guided by his “moral compass”.
Amir has been giving evidence for two weeks from behind a curtain against three Co Armagh men charged in connection with the arms smuggling plot.
Between them the trio, Paul Anthony John McCaugherty (43) from Beech Court, Desmond Paul Kearns (44) from Tannaghmore Green, both Lurgan, and 41-year-old Dermot Declan Gregory, aka Michael Dermot Gregory, from Concession Road in Crossmaglen, deny a total of eight charges.
Amir accepted that pressure had been put on him to give evidence, but denied he had “pushed it (the operation) along more than was needed” and that he was an “agent provocateur”.
At hearing.
Post a Comment