A retired senior RUC officer has told the Smithwick Tribunal that Freddie Scappaticci - the man who denies he was the highly prized British agent known as ‘Stakeknife’ - was a member of the IRA's internal security unit known as the 'Nutting Squad’.
Retired Assistant Chief Constable Raymond White, who was in charge of the Special Branch in Belfast, confirmed that Mr Scappaticci worked in the 'Nutting Squad', along with John Joe McGee.
The witness, however, refused to confirm that Mr Scappaticci was 'Stakeknife', saying he was not prepared to name the agent.
Mr Scappaticci has always denied that he was a member of the Provisional IRA or their internal security unit.
The tribunal is investigating claims that a garda passed information to the IRA which resulted in them setting up an ambush to kill RUC Chief Supt Harry Breen and Supt Bob Buchanan in March 1989. Former sergeants Owen Corrigan, Leo Colton and Finbarr Hickey all deny the claims.
Mr White said he would have seen the intelligence reports generated as a result of information supplied by 'Stakeknife'.
They would have come from the secretive British military operation known as the Force Research Unit, which was in charge of 'Stakeknife’. He acknowledged that the intelligence was often "historical" in that it came after an event had happened.
Mr White also said handlers from the FRU would have met the agent and debriefed him. They themselves would then be debriefed and the information written down. What intelligence was actually passed on to other bodies was largely up to the FRU.
Asked by Richard Smith, Counsel for Peter Keeley, who worked as a British agent within the IRA, Mr White said that he had "no grounds" to say information was held back by the FRU.
The witness confirmed that the head of the FRU was a British army colonel who was also in charge of running the agent Brian Nelson. Mr Nelson was the intelligence officer with the UDA and was implicated in several murders, include some, it is alleged, on behalf of British intelligence.
Mr White also said he was told by CID officers that the scene on the southern side of the border following the IRA attack on the British army at Narrow Water had not been properly preserved by gardaí, despite a request to do so.
The witness also outlined procedures the RUC had put in place when suspicions had arisen about officers passing information to terrorists. Even if no evidence was found, there would be a precautionary transfer of the person involved to another location.
The former ACC also said that in the 1970s the IRA was turning over £9m a year in fundraising activities.
Mr White said confirmed that he had given Peter Keeley “participant status” to take part in crimes to gather intelligence, despite being told by colleagues that Mr Keeley was not trustworthy. As a result, there had been several successful prosecutions.
