ENIGMA 2000 Newsletter - Issue 27

March 2005
Articles, newsreports and Items of interest :enigma2000-owner@yahoogroups.com

EENIGMA 2000 article – The Smokey Dragon – Part 4

We conclude AnonMW’s excellent look at MEIBON GLYNDWR: [MG] Sons of Glyndwr in Part 4:

The Smokey Dragon – Part 4

Terrorism in Wales: the response [police and security services]

Up until the impending Investiture of HRH Prince Charles at Caernarvon as Prince of Wales the response of the police to the then relatively few attacks of this nature were to treat them as a normal criminal investigation. This seems to have been successful, but with an increase in violent protest [ie bomb outrages] in the run up to the investiture, more sophisticated monitoring and surveillance techniques were required. The Intelligence Service, MI5, were called in; one of the coordinators of the campaign was Sir Martin Furnival-Jones, Director General of MI5 from 1965 to 1972. This surveillance operation to monitor the threats to the Prince and his investiture would run 18 months.

A file recording this operation is called "Threat of Bomb outrages in Wales at the time if the Investiture of the Prince of Wales." It is held at the Public Record Office where it is better known as CAB164/389. This file was opened in November 1967 and run until its closure in 1969. It contains 16 documents, the gist of which is that MI5 perceived the potential threat to be so great as to warrant a monitoring and surveillance operation.

The then Prime Minister, Harold Wilson, was so concerned about this threat, having been briefed by MI5, that he expressed the wish, which was complied with, to be kept fully informed of developments of this joint Police - MI5 operation. All police forces in Wales were involved, as were Regional Crime Squads and the Metropolitan Police Special Branch.

The chief threat at this time would appear to have been the MAC [See terrorist Groups/Personalities]. In 1969, two members of MAC died in a spectacular 'own goal' with their IED, and in 1970, its founder/leader and one other were convicted and jailed. Three others had been jailed earlier and this would appear to have neutralised this group, if not the terrorist threat from the others.

However, monitoring would appear to have started at a much earlier date; namely the outbreak of World War 2.

Recently released information, gleaned from the December 2002 release of Guy LIDDELL's wartime diaries, indicate the use of a retired police inspector from Swansea, named Gwillym WILLIAMS. This man spoke 17 languages and with Swansea being a large seaport comparable to Cardiff, must have been very useful.

People who were members of Plaid Cymru [PC] at that time remember him joining, and now say with hindsight [which, as we all know is 20x20 vision!] that his enthusiasm for 'inappropriate action' was boundless. If this were true he must have been a talented operator for he also rose to PC's national executive. Using the aforementioned hindsight now retired members of PC use the term 'agent provocateur' to describe him.

Having researched this man, the author would humbly suggest that the former Inspector WILLIAMS made a far larger contribution to this country's [Britain] war effort than the past, present and future entire membership of Plaid Cymru ever could or will!

Gwillym WILLIAMS was employed by LIDDELL as a handler for Arthur OWENS [Codename 'SNOW'] and for which credible membership of a Welsh Nationalist Party would have been indispensable, given that OWENS was taken on by the German Abwehr as he [OWENS] was a committed anti-British, Welsh Nationalist.

'SNOW' was 'turned' having been made the offer which cannot be refused, and used as a conduit for false intelligence and disinformation to the Abwehr. Gwillym WILLIAMS even accompanied 'SNOW' on a training course to Germany to learn intelligence and sabotage at the Abwehr's expense! [Trust that the reader will forgive this small digression, which is a tribute to this truly remarkable man, one far more typical of Wales than the Arthur OWENS and Cayo EVANS of this world].

Moving on to 1979 [Instead of back to it as most of us would wish] Wales is now faced with the infamous arson campaign against English holiday homes and business interests; giving its motives as being to preserve the Welsh language and culture and obtain affordable homes for the Welsh. [How incinerating Welsh houses under English ownership achieves this is beyond this author's understanding].

Prominent among the groups claiming responsibility were: MAC, CC, MG AND WAWR.

In the case of MAC it is highly likely that this group was, by this time, neutralised due to the imprisonment of some members and own goals by other members.

As described in 'Known Terrorist Groups' this left CC, MG and WAWR active. Again referring to the 'Known Terrorist Groups' section CC had four of its members jailed on Explosion Conspiracy charges in 1980 and no more has since been heard from this group.

MG, as stated, are believed to be still active. This is despite the arrests and jailing previously described. Their status could well now be, as already made clear, a state of mind.[A groundswell of activity and arson, by virtue of which, any suspicious outbreak of property damage or terrorism in Wales, is attributed to them.

Indeed, the latest known claimant in 1991, seems highly unlikely to have been a member of MG, although sources indicate this group as still active.

WAWR, following its series of attacks recorded under its own section earlier, now also appears to be defunct following a high profile Trial of which some elements were pure 'Perry Mason'! It included allegations of the planting of evidence and of police 'heavy handedness'. Only one defendant was found guilty. Be that as it may, following this, no more claims for attacks on behalf of this group have been made, neither have any actions been attributed to them.

Free Wales Army had, as an effective terrorist unit, ceased to exist following the 1969 arrests and jailings.

As regards the language presentation groups [their terms, not those of the author] the Welsh Language Society would appear to have graduated from a group ready to vandalise anything that their peculiar brand of logic deems an affront to the Welsh Language into a quasi-respectable protest group. Everyone, however, knows the old saying about leopards and their spots.

The newly emerged CYMUNED would seem to spring from the same mold, but their willingness, even eagerness, to emulate and associate with Irish Republican terror groups [and here include Sinn Fein - IRA] would merit more than routine monitoring.

The quotation of CYMUNED's leader, Mr Simon BROOKS, given earlier, bears repeating; "It is not within our power to overthrow capitalism or British, or English with tactics which are not cunning...."

And again: "Sinn Fein learnt it would have to balance it's political rhetoric with real work..."

With comments such as these Mr BROOKS and his colleagues would appear to justify, and be prime candidates for, ECHELON. [Article in Bangor & Anglesey Mail, circa April 2002].

The other newly emerged group, CYMRU 14000, mentioned in Terrorist Groups is included in that heading due to the membership and support of the Welsh actor Kenneth GRIFFITH who loudly espouses the cause of the IRA and indeed, apparently any anti-British or anti-English group. The author would respectfully suggest that anyone, or any group, espousing such causes, and stating their willingness to imitate high profile groups actions merits the closest attention of the State surveillance apparatus [such as it is] notwithstanding the fact that no claims have yet been made on its behalf for any attacks. Although no actions have been claimed by this emergent group their website is chilling. It shows 'CYMRU 1400' depicted in flames, the chilling factor is no doubt intended.

This apparently shy group is 'a new kid on the block' as such groups go, but then it's a new century and much lies ahead.

Once again, any further information, for inclusion in a greater work would be appreciated [via ENIGMA 2000, usual methods please].

An appreciation

That the members of these known groups was small and in some cases barely reaching double figures, is beyond question. That they caused damage, distress and incurred extra police and intelligence input out of all proportion to those numbers, is equally so. Why?

During my Army and certainly during my police service I asked myself the same question. The answer is, I believe, the location of the problem. The location of the problem is set chiefly in the mid, West and North Wales and in the mind set of the regions [North Wales in particular]. By inhabitants I mean those people who have lived there for generations and have, in the majority of cases, Welsh as their first language, although they all obviously speak English. Anyone who has watched S4C, the Welsh language channel, and seen its quality of programme content will readily understand.

A very insular people, they are, I believe, more sympathetic to the burners than the burned.

Frighteningly, I recall a conversation I had with a North Wales Police officer in 1971 on this very topic. Expressing surprise that the police of such a close knit community did not know the identity of the culprits, he replied, quite seriously, "Who says they don't?"

Whatever the reason, the fact remains that the Intelligence Services were brought in to 'assist' the local police. Effective operations were conducted, resulting in the effective neutralisation of the majority of these groups.

The difference between South and North Wales is marked indeed. Although the South is not free of attacks of this nature it is, I believe, because South Wales is far more anglicised than the rest of Wales that this is so. As a child I lived in Cardiff. My class mates at school were variously Estonian, Greek, Norwegian, Polish and Swedish. Spanish and Italian names were so common as to not attract surprise. We even had two Germans, which close to the end of WW2 was unusual but did my German studies a great deal of good.

With the establishment of the National Assembly for Wales and the legal protection afforded the Welsh language by a recent Act of Parliament [which gives it equal status with English] most, if not all the aims of the Welsh Nationalists would appear to have been met. Until, of course, the recent announcement by Plaid Cymru that they intend going for complete independence.

Strangely the announcement was made by Mr Dafydd IWAN, a former pop singer, albeit only known in Wales, who had been elected as Plaid Cymru chairman. [This should tell readers something about PC membership]. Of the party leader, Mr Ieuan Wynn JONES, there was no trace. So it would appear that not all PC members desire home rule, realising the intolerable tax burden it would put upon the people and that it would contribute to the break up of the United Kingdom.

It is the authors belief that this announcement will only fan the flames [pun definitely intended] and that now we will see a re-emergence of the lunatics and misguided self styled patriots of the FWA and MG variety seen in the 60's and 70's. Are we then on a slippery path?

Possibly so. It is my contention that although we will never totally eradicate such frightened, dangerous people as MG and CYMUNED from our midst, for frightened and dangerous they certainly are, the trick is to recognise them and keep them under surveillance. Once known they can be monitored, and if necessary, neutralised.

What is frightening, in the extremes, is the stated willingness of these people to forge links with, and emulate, international terror groups. Even the Basque nationalists have some sympathisers in Wales.

Until fairly recently a regular visitor to the public gallery of the National Assembly for Wales was a gentleman who described himself as a 'freelance journalist.' He made no secret of the fact that he wrote articles for Basque newspapers. That the IRA links are stronger than those discussed elsewhere in this article, I have no doubt. CYMUNED and CYMRU 1400 seem to have learnt, almost certainly from Sinn Fein - IRA the value of tapping into the USA for sentiment for what they [Americans] perceive as their roots. They have in their websites a trans-Atlantic section. [Is that chilling - or what].

And the future? Well as I have previously said, it is a new century; I for one do not think that boredom is going to be a major problem to us for quite a few years yet!

[Tnx AnonMW – an excellent piece indeed].

Since the submission of this article to E2K for publication, a recently retired senior CID officer, who served in the Gwynedd Constabulary, as the North Wales Police were known at the timescale to which this article refers, has appeared on a local TV channel, (08/03/04) S4C, a largely Welsh language channel, and in an interview, confirmed the author's misgivings formed following the conversation mentioned with a North Welsh Police colleague, namely that some officers in that force condoned the arson attacks on holiday homes. He qualifies this by saying they were not directly involved in the investigations into these attacks.

In the opinion of this author, this is like saying a drug dealer is not directly involved in drug abuse, he merely supplies.

This more than justifies the call for ‘out of force’ involvement, even to the level already seen, of the security services, ie MI5. [An addition at the Author’s request 10/03/04]

In support of this article a BBC Newscast [online] addresses the history recounted here:

BBCNews UK Online [10th March 2004]:

Officers 'backed' holiday home arson

Some police officers were sympathetic to a campaign of arson on holiday homes in Wales in the 1980s, according to the detective who was in charge of investigating the attacks.

The so-called Meibion Glyndwr - Sons of Glyndwr - began their campaign of cottage burning in December 1979 in protest at what they claimed was a growing trend of homes in rural Wales being sold as holiday cottages to people from England.

Around 300 properties were attacked during a campaign lasting until the mid-1990s.

Although one man, Sion Aubrey Roberts, was convicted in 1993 of sending letter bombs in the post, the cottage-burning cases remain unsolved.

Now the former head of North Wales CID Gareth Jones has told BBC Wales' Taro Naw programme that some officers in the force, but who were outside the unit investigating the arsonists, supported the actions of Meibion Glyndwr.

Mr Jones, who is now retired, said: "It was a very exciting time - a very difficult time for the police. At the time there was great political pressure.

"What you had was terrorists in Wales breaking the law night after night and there was pressure on the chief constable to catch those responsible.

"There's no doubt that some police outside this unit were supportive of what was going on.

"I have no doubt about that and we had to co-operate and work with those people, but nobody was open about it at the time of course."

Also in the programme, Mr Jones creates a map of where he believes members of Meibion Glyndwr lived, based on the pattern of arson attacks.

Meibion Glyndwr - named after 15th Century rebel leader Owain Glyndwr - said in 1989 that "every white settler" was a target for their campaign.

But the group has not been active since the mid-1990s.

[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/wales/3544851.stm]