HC Deb 15 December 1978 vol 960 cc442-8W
Mr. Powell

asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether the security statistics for the third quarter of 1978 are available.

Mr. Mason:

Following is the information:

STATISTICS ON SECURITY
PART I—Statistics of Terrorist Activity
Yearly totals for 1971–77—Quarterly totals for the first three quarters of 1978
Statistics for terrorist activity comprise the following:—
(i) Number of shooting incidents.
(ii) Number of explosions.
(iii) Number of bombs and devices neutralised.
(iv) Weight of explosives in bombs and devices neutralised.
(v) Number of malicious fires.
(vi) Number of armed robberies and amount stolen.
(vii) Number of deaths and injuries of RUC/RUC "R", Army and civilians (including sectarian and interfactional assassinations).

PART II—Statistics of Security Forces' Activity
Yearly totals for 1971–77—Quarterly totals for the first three quarters of 1978
Statistics for Security Forces' Activity comprise the following:—
(i) Number of houses searched.
(ii) Number of weapons, pounds of explosives and rounds of ammunition found.
(iii) Number of people charged with serious security type offences:(murder, attempted murder, explosives offences, firearms offences, armed robbery, and other offences relating to the security situation e.g. arson, membership of illegal organisations etc.).

STATISTICS ON SECURITY—PART I
Yearly figures 1978 quarterly figures
1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 January to March April to June July to September
Shooting incidents 1,756 10,628 5,018 3,206 1,803 1,908 1,081 235 183 173
Explosions 1,022 1,382 978 685 399 766 366 127 71 62
Bombs neutralized 493 471 542 428 236 426 169 56 29 28
Weight of explosives (in lbs.)(*)—
In explosions 10,972 47,472 47,472 46,435 13,753 17,596 2,839 641 2,271.5 379
Neutralised 3,001 19,978 32,450 27,094 11,159 16,252 2,188 1,268.5 1,262.5 1,670.5
Armed robberies 437 1,931 1,215 1,231 1,201 813 591 149 126 72
Amount stolen 303,787 790,687 612,015 572,951 572,105 545,497 446,988 56,507 58,822 82,644
Malicious fires(†) — — 587 636 248 453 432 62 63 83
Deaths—
Civilians (†) 115 322 171 166 216 245 69 20 12 10
(Sectarian and interfactional assassinations(†) shown in brackets) — (122) (87) (95) (144) (121) (42) (3) (6) (4)
Army/UDR 48 129 66 35 20 29 29 8 2 4
RUC/RUC "R" 11 17 13 15 11 23 14 2 5 3
Injuries—
Civilians 1,838 3,813 1,812 1,680 2,044 2,162 1,027 147 91 127
Army/UDR 390 578 548 483 167 264 188 41 40 12
RUC/RUC "R" 315 485 291 235 263 303 183 36 31 26
(*) Estimated weight only.
(†) Consolidated figures not available for earlier years.
These totals have been revised.

STATISTICS ON SECURITY—PART II
Yearly figures 1978 quarterly figures
1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 January to March April to June July to September
Houses searched (†) … 17,262 36,617 74,556 74,914 30,002 34,919 20,724 5,987 4,399 3,600
Finds—
Firearms … 717 1,264 1,595 1,260 825 837 590 111 120 74
Ammunitions (rds) … 157,944 183,410 187,399 147,202 73,604 70,306 52,091 12,610 13,044 8,586
Explosives (Ibs) … 2,748 41,488 38,418 26,120 11,565 21,714 3,809 205.5 410 266.5
ICOS made … 0 75 512 312 11 0 0 0 0 0

Persons charged with serious security-type offences(*)
31st July to 31st December 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 January to March 1978 April to June 1978 July to September 1978
Murder … … … … 13 71 75 138 120 131 14 29 5
Attempted murder … … … …16 85 75 88 121 135 30 24 11
Firearms offences … … … …242 631 544 460 353 301 67 44 57
Explosives offences … … … …86 236 161 100 215 146 40 9 14
Theft act … … … …111 186 232 314 188 203 45 40 43
Other … … … …63 205 275 97 279 392 65 68 59
531 1,414 1,362 1,197 1,276 1,308 261 214 189
(*) These figures are not available in consolidated form for earlier years.
(†) Includes occupied and unoccupied houses searched.