§ Rev. Ian Paisleyasked the Minister of State for Defence what areas have been searched by the Army in the past four weeks in Northern Ireland; how many Royal Ulster Constabulary men have joined with the Army in these searches; what amounts of arms and ammunition have been discovered; in what areas these have been found; and how many persons were arrested.
§ Mr. G. Johnson Smith:In the four week period up to 10th November, the security forces conducted a large number of searches, including 2,234 houses, 8,818 cars and 312 quarries. 255 members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary participated in search operations. Items found 267W in the searches included seven machine guns, 20 rifles, 11 shotguns, 29 pistols and revolvers, 17,809 rounds of ammunition, 39 grenades and 381 lbs. of explosive.
9th November … Ardoyne … … 8 arrests—198 rounds of ammunition. 8th November … Springfield … … 11 bombs and 439 rounds of ammunition. 8th November … Turf Lodge … … 1 machine gun, 2 rifles, 2 pistols, 3 shotguns and 850 rounds of ammunition. 6th November … Carrickmore … … 1 machine gun, 1 shotgun, 87 rounds of ammunition, 75 lbs. of explosive, 366 detonators and 2,900 feet of fuse. 4th November … Andersonstown … 18 arrests—1 shotgun, 20 grenades. 3rd November … Ross/Raglan Street … 1 machine gun, 3 rifles, 2 pistols and 5,000 rounds of ammunition. 2nd November … Gracehill Street … 4 rifles, 3 pistols and 200 rounds of ammunition. 1st November … Andersonstown … 1 shotgun, 8 bombs, 17 grenades.
§ Rev. Ian Paisleyasked the Minister of State for Defence what action the Army took following the bombing of the Royal Ulster Constabulary station at Toome Bridge, County Antrim; and what report was made to him.
§ Mr. G. Johnson Smith:At about 2 a.m. on 18th May, 1971, an explosion outside the building caused superficial damage, such as the breaking of windows. No injuries were sustained by the occupants of the building. Army ammunition technical officers investigated the incident but were unable to identify what type of device had been used. I regret that my reply to the hon. Member on 4th November, while making clear that there was no link between the death of Sergeant Dodds and any attack on the police station, overlooked this earlier incident. The station has been covered by Army patrols since the beginning of 1970: since 9th August this year there has been a static guard on a part-time basis.—[Vol. 825, c. 7-8.]