ARREST MADE

Man, 39, arrested in major PSNI data breach probe search op suspected of collecting info useful to terrorists

• Published: 18:37, 16 Aug 2023
• Updated: 18:43, 16 Aug 2023

• )

A MAN has been arrested in connection with last week’s PSNI data breach.

The 39-year-old was arrested on suspicion of collecting information likely to be useful to terrorists.

Detectives made the arrested after carrying out a search in Lurgan, Armagh today.

He is currently being detained and questioned at Musgrave Serious Crime Suite.

Detective Chief Superintendent Andy Hill said: “We are working tirelessly to address the risk posed to officers and staff.

“Today’s search operation, and subsequent arrest, is just one piece of a largescale operation.

“We will continue in our efforts to disrupt criminal activity associated with this freedom of information data breach and to keep communities, and our officers and staff who serve them, safe.”

Last week, the PSNI revealed a document had mistakenly been shared online, which included the names of about 10,000 officers and staff.

Details released included the surname and first initial of every employee, their rank or grade, where they are based and the unit they work in.

PSNI Chief Constable Simon Byrne said on Monday he believes the information is in the hands of dissident republicans, who are opposed to the peace process.

Many officers have expressed concern for their safety in Northern Ireland, where police are under threat from terrorists – with the current level of threat assessed as severe, meaning an attack is highly likely.

Earlier this week dissident republicans posted redacted information from the data breach on the wall of a library in Belfast.

The move was made in a bid to prove they are in possession of the sensitive material.

Sinn Fein MLA Gerry Kelly said the document which was posted overnight close to the party’s office on the Falls Road, and included information about a “substantial number” of police officers and staff, although their names had been removed.

Policing Board member Mr Kelly, who described the posting of the information as sinister, explained that he had been contacted by a party member this morning who had arrived at the office.

LEAKED DOCUMENTS

He said: “He noticed that on the side of the library there was a number of documents pasted up.

“There was a photograph of myself and then there was a statement saying in large writing: ‘Gerry, we know who your mates are.’

“Under that there was what appeared to be, and what turned out to be, a section of the leaked documents that were put out.

“It did not have the names of the police officers involved, but it had everything else.

“It wasn’t the whole 10,000 (names), but it was a substantial number.”

Mr Kelly added: “I look upon this as a threat by dissidents to me and I will not be intimidated.

“More serious is that this is the dissidents, or whoever is involved, putting out that their claim that they have access to the leaked documents, they are putting out a verification on that.

“I think that is their main intention.”

Earlier this year, dissident republicans were blamed for the attempted murder of senior PSNI detective John Caldwell.