I.R.A. break-out triggers demand for security probe

Press, 27 September 1983, Page 10

I.R.A. break-out triggers demand for security probe

NZPA-Reuter Belfast

Hundreds of police and troops were searching yesterday for more than 20 Irish Republican Army prisoners still at large after a big escape from the top security Maze prison. A total of 38 prisoners staged the break-out from the heavily-guarded prison outside Belfast, stabbing one guard to death and shooting another in the head.

The police sealed off the area and at least 10 were recaptured, said officials. It was the biggest breakout in Northern Ireland’s histoiy and political sources said it was a boost for the 1.R.A., fighting to end British rule in the province. I.R.A. ranks have been depleted recently by convictions based on police informers’ evidence.

The escape began when the prisoners produced handguns, knives and other

weapons and overpowered their guards. Some of them forced warders to strip and donned their uniforms before they hijacked a food lorry bringing the prisoners’ tea to the segregated cell block. Other jailed I.R.A. men, some in their underpants, jumped into the back of the lorry and sped off through the grounds of the Maze prison towards the main gate.

One alert officer, who recognised a bogus guard, swung his car across, blocking the entrance and forcing the men to flee on foot. Officials said that in clashes at the gate a prison officer was stabbed and died shortly after. Five more guards were stabbed during the break-out. Residents living opposite the prison said that escaping prisoners had rushed through the main gates fleeing in all directions and

stealing cars at gun-point. The police put up roadblocks around the prison and around West Belfast.

The British Government has ordered investigations to find out how the prisoners managed to lay their hands on guns and other weapons. The Minister responsible for the province, Mr James Prior, yesterday called an “immediate, rigorous and searching inquiry.” The Rev. lan Paisley — in a rare departure from his policy of never involving himself in politics on a Sunday — demanded an urgent meeting with Mr Prior and also the emergency convening of the Assembly security committee. “How guns can be smuggled into the prison and used against unarmed prison officers is alarming, and a full inquiry must be ordered immediately,” he said.