Asset raids on 'IRA properties'
(fonte : BBC on line di oggi)
Properties worth £30m and thought to be linked to the IRA are being targeted by an asset recovery team in Manchester.
Searches have identified about 250 properties linked to two businessmen, which are being investigated by the Assets Recovery Agency (ARA).
It is thought to follow an inquiry into the business and financial affairs of Thomas "Slab" Murphy, who is widely considered to be the head of the IRA.
Police have also raided the home and business of landlord Dermot Craven.
Property groups
Greater Manchester Police confirmed they were raiding Craven Properties in Britannia Road, Sale, in connection with the ARA investigation.
It is part of the Craven Group which is run by Dermot Craven.
One of the premises raided was in Sale
Police were also raiding his home, Craven House, on South Downs Road in Bowden, Greater Manchester.
The ARA searches were carried out on business and domestic premises and documents seized.
They came 10 days after the IRA put its weapons beyond use and on the day Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams was due to meet Prime Minister Tony Blair in Downing Street.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said it had played the biggest role in referring information to the ARA across the UK.
The PSNI has been directly involved with processing and passing on information related to this case.
The operation is understood to have originated in Northern Ireland and then extended to the Republic and the rest of the UK.
Libel defeat
An ARA statement said: "The agency has so far identified approximately 250 properties held by both persons and a number of property management companies.
"The equity in the properties appears to be in the region of £9m."
The raids followed a High Court application for search and seizure warrants.
Murphy lost a libel case against The Sunday Times in 1998, after the newspaper described him as a prominent IRA member.
The authorities on both sides of the border have been investigating him for years.
Murphy describes himself as a County Louth farmer. The family property is in an area straddling the border with the Irish Republic at Hackballscross
[Modificato da admin/moris 06/10/2005 13.48]