Page "Vigilante" Paragraph 51

* Irish National Liberation Army ( INLA ), an Irish republican socialist paramilitary group, maintains a presence in parts of Northern Ireland and has carried out punishment beatings on local alleged petty criminals.

In 2006, the INLA claimed to have put at least two drugs gangs out of business in Northern Ireland.

After their raid on a criminal organisation based in the north-west, they released a statement saying that " the Irish National Liberation Army will not allow the working class people of this city to be used as cannon fodder by these criminals whose only concern is profit by whatever means available to them.

" On 15 February 2009 the INLA claimed responsibility for the shooting dead of Derry drug-dealer Jim McConnell.

On 19 August 2009 the INLA shot and wounded a man in Derry.

The INLA claimed that the man was involved in drug dealing although the injured man and his family denied the allegation.

However, in a newspaper article on 28 August the victim retracted his previous statement and admitted that he had been involved in small scale drug-dealing but has since ceased these activities.