Worker’s Party president formally indicted by US

Several papers pick up on the developments since his arrest in Belfast on Friday – the Press Association report that Worker’s Party president Sean Garland, along with 6 other men, has been formally indicted by a US federal grand jury on charges he conspired with North Korea to circulate millions of dollars in counterfeit U.S. currency, and as reported in the Washington Post, Kenneth Wainstein, the U.S. Attorney in Washington has stated that prosecutors will be seeking extradition.The Washington Post also states that “The indictment was returned May 19 and unsealed following Garland’s arrest [on Friday].”

Sean O’Driscoll in the Belfast Telegraph also names all 7 men indicted and reports that the US will be seeking their arrest and extradition. He also reports that –

The indictment names Garland as the leader of the Official IRA, a claim he strongly denies, and claims that North Korean officials introduced counterfeit $100 bills to Ireland in the early 1990s and that Garland obtained more of them in Minsk, Belarus.

The indictment says Garland traded in over $1m in the currency, using his Workers’ Party position as a front and that the accused and their associates carried the notes between Britain and Ireland on the ferry, because ferry passengers did not undergo security checks.

Garland is accused of going to great measures to avoid being linked to the scheme. He is also accused of using Official IRA members to run the operation.

The Washington Post, via Mark Sherman of The Associated Press, also has details on the indictment –

Garland, working with the other defendants, purchased, transported and resold up to $1 million worth of the phony currency between 1997 and 2000 and also worked to conceal North Korea’s role in the enterprise, the indictment said. The bills were put into circulation in the United Kingdom and elsewhere, it said.

The others charged in the indictment were: Christopher John Corcoran, 57, of Dublin, Ireland; David Levin, 39, of Birmingham and London, England; Hugh Todd, 68, of South Africa; Terence “Terry” Silcock, 50, Mark Adderley, 47, and Alan Jones, 48, all of Birmingham.
Prosecutors are seeking their arrest and extradition, said Kenneth Wainstein, the U.S. Attorney in Washington.

All the defendants face maximum prison sentences of five years and fines of $250,000 if convicted.