Operation Arbacia contributing to lower dissident threat

OPERATION Arbacia has been identified as the significant reason dissident activity has fallen recently in the Strabane and Derry areas.

During his recent visit to the district Chief Constable Simon Byrne was asked to outline any reasons why he believed dissident activity had waned locally.

He explained. “There are a variety of things that have attributed to this, but Operation Arbacia was the key moment where a significant number of people from the New IRA were arrested and taken off the streets and the ripples of that then continued.

“Over 100 people in total have been arrested as part of that operation, not just for terrorist-related crimes but also things to do with fraud and money laundering etc.”

Chief Superintendent Ryan Henderson added, “People don’t want or support violence. The key resource is the young people and everyone I talk to does not want young people getting dragged in to those groups.

“Operation Arbacia has given us a real opportunity to do very normal policing, the kind people want, which is us being out and about. We have invested in a new fleet so we are much more visible and accessible, we have more neighbourhood officers out than we had before and that has really helped to strengthen the bond between the police and the public and that also helps to change the environment.

“People have real world problems – cost of living crisis, and mental health challenges – which they have to deal with instead of worrying about this. Yes we are very mindful of the terrorist threat but we don’t want it to define us. It’s not the policing we want to be doing.”

The Chief Constable explained local officers would keep the pressure on anyone involved in dissident activity.

He explained, “We have continued the push against the small number of people who are determined to pursue their own ideology via violent means, in particular those individuals behind attacks that have been directed at police, and we will continue that push.

“We are determined to work with communities to make the life of the terrorist so difficult that see there is no support for them and come to the table instead.”