The Scottish National Liberation Army is an organisation in Scotland that utilises paramilitary methods in a bid to fracture that country's link with the rest of the British state, thus forming a Scottish republic.

Goals and beliefs

1. To establish a fully independent, autonomous Scottish republic separate from the United Kingdom.

2. To halt the mass immigration from England to north of the border.

3. To instate Scottish Gaelic as the country's national language.

Activity

The SNLA has been involved with a number of violent incidents around the UK, involving the use of incendiary devices, letter bombs, chemical packages and arson attacks. One of the most noteworthy incidents occurred in 1995 with the execution of 'Operation Icarus,' in which an explosive device was attached to an aircraft flying from Belfast to London, supposedly carrying members of Parliament, No one was hurt. People affiliated with four of the SNLA's Dublin cells were arrested but later released without charge.

Other incidents included chemical package attacks on high-profile targets, including Prince William, Queen Elizabeth II and Cherie Blair, the wife of British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Suspected members and cells

The SNLA is a secret society, and generally the names of members and former members are unknown. Nevertheless, a number of people have been arrested, some released and some convicted of SNLA activities in the last two decades. They include:

Tommy Kelly: He was sentenced to serve 10 years for an SNLA letter bombing in 1984 and was denied parole. Kelly served seven years of the sentence. He is suspected of being an active member of the SNLA in the U.S.

Andrew McIntosh: He was given a 12-year sentence for an SNLA conspiracy in 1993, in which he used what was called a "strategy of disruption" extensively. McIntosh was expelled from the SNLA in 1997 for reporting the location of an arms dump to the police. He hoped to get parole in return for his cooperation. He got parole. In 2004, he was arrested with his brother Alan McIntosh, and another man, for possession of these same weapons. He hanged himself in prison.

David Dinsmore: On returning to Scotland from Brazil in 1993 after more than ten years on the run, Dinsmore repudiated the SNLA, and, in 1994, as the result of a deal, he was given 240 hours of community service for a much reduced charge of letter bombing.

Kevin Paton: He received an 18-month prison sentence for his part in the "Icarus" operation 1995.

Terence Weber: Paton's co-accused, he received three years' imprisonment for SNLA activities in the "Icarus" trial in 1995.

Adam Busby: He received a two-year sentence in the Irish Special Criminal Court in 1995. This was for a misdemeanor caused by sending an SNLA communiqué to media outlets in Scotland.

Anndra Padarsan: He was convicted of the attempted assasination of George Robertson, a member of Parliament, and, he received a sentence of 13 years in 1992.

Hugh Smith McMahon: He received a non-custodial sentence in the Special Criminal Court in Dublin for telephoning a bomb threat to police in Scotland in 1998, causing a major bomb scare near Inverness. His lenient sentence was influenced by the fact that he took legal action to prevent his trial for four years, causing the Irish authorities to seek a quick resolution to the case by offering him a non-custodial sentence. He accepted the sentence in 2003. He is still believed to be active in the SNLA

Paul Smith: In 2004, he was one of two men scheduled to stand trial for alleged SNLA offences in Glasgow High Court. These offences related to the threatened use of biological weapons and the actual use of chemical weapons. Specifically, he pled guilty to sending caustic soda to Cherie Blair and another person. He got three years' imprisonment. His co-accused was not brought to trialt.

Paul Reilly: In 2004, he was arrested and charged at Scotland Yard with attempting to coerce the British government in order to form a Scottish republic by crippling the London Stock Exchange by means of cyber-terrorism. Charges were dropped. In 2005 he was apparently kept under covert surveillance by detectives while attending university, after suspiscion arose of involvement in a proposed bombing operation in Central London. He is still believed to be active in the SNLA's ranks and may have been involved in the Northern Bank robbery of 2005 in Northern Ireland.

Alex MacChine: Arrested in 2004 for supplying Reilly with the electronic equipment needed to carry out the "information-warfare" attack on the London Stock Exchange. He was never charged. He is believed to be an active member of the SNLA.

In addition to the above, a number of people have been charged with SNLA activities but not brought to trial for one reason or another, although remanded in custody on the charges. Darin Brown, for example, was charged with Weber and Paton in 1994 and was remanded in custody. The charges, which he admitted, were eventually dropped when he agreed to give evidence in 1995.

External links

• Scottish Separatist Group Website — Political group which purportedly provides political support to the SNLA
• BBC News profile of the SNLA from 2002