A GLASWEGIAN MI5 agent paid for free holidays and used tickets for Celtic games to woo the leadership of a dissident republican terrorist group in Northern Ireland.
Dennis McFadden managed to infiltrate the New IRA, eventually becoming a member of the executive of Saoradh, their political wing.
He disappeared in August 2020, two weeks before the arrest of nine suspected leading members of the group. The seven men and two women face charges including directing terrorism.
A tenth suspect, Issam Bassalat, a Palestinian doctor based in Edinburgh, was also arrested and is accused of preparation of terrorist acts.
All ten deny the charges.
READ MORE: Scottish GP remanded in Belfast over New IRA terror charges
More details of McFadden’s mission, codenamed Operation Arbacia, have been reported by the Times following preliminary court hearings in Northern Ireland.
The 54-year-old lived with his wife, Christine, and their young son in the north Belfast suburb of Glengormley.
He told locals that he was a hotel inspector who travelled extensively to check the safety and standards of tourist accommodation.
However, when he was away from home he was reportedly briefing the security services.
According to the paper, McFadden was known by neighbours and friends to be a man for whom “money was no object”.
He would often provide Celtic tickets for acquaintances, pay for the travel to Scotland and provide overnight accommodation with his family.
He took Kevin Barry Murphy, 50, allegedly a senior figure in the New IRA from Co Tyrone, on holiday to Spain with their wives three times.
He also arranged travel and accommodation for dissident republicans to attend political conferences overseas, including trips to Brussels and Beirut.
READ MORE: Dissident republican group linked with four murders since 2011
McFadden had been in Northern Ireland for between 15 and 20 years. He told people he had been a bar owner, a pilot, an NHS worker, a soldier and a former special constable in Glasgow.
According to the Belfast Telegraph, his family came from the Gorbals.
Saoradh and the New IRA had their power base in Derry where, in April 2019, during rioting in the Creggan area, the journalist Lyra McKee was shot dead while observing clashes with police.
Her murder led to a clamp down on the New IRA, with McFadden's mission moving from intelligence-gathering to evidence-gathering.
READ MORE: Colleagues remember Lyra McKee on first anniversary of murder
He rented two Airbnb properties he rented in rural Co Tyrone in February and July 2020 where meetings of the so-called army council, the New IRA leadership took place.
The meetings were bugged by MI5.
Those in attendance allegedly spoke of the need to source supplies of arms and explosives.
There is a discussion about getting money from “the Russians” and of forging alliances with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
One person talks of trying to obtain Semtex, rocket launchers and rifles from Colombia.
Another allegation is that the dissidents discussed attacking Shannon airport, sometimes used by the US military, to curry favour with Middle Eastern groups.
McFadden is said to have stayed behind after the meetings, collecting ashtrays and glasses for DNA.
After the July 2020 meeting he left a positive review on Airbnb for the property where he hosted the gathering: “While working sometimes through the night for the NHS this place was a godsend. It is somewhat remote but a welcome retreat from the hustle and bustle of work.”
The owner of the house responded that the property had been left “in great shape and we hope Dennis and his colleagues will use our house again in the future”.
According to reports, McFadden is believed to be in protective custody.
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