Priest regrets that `tacit approval' is being given to drug murder gang

DIRECT Action Against Drugs (DAAD) would not be able to carry out murders without the "tacit approval" of local communities, a Belfast parish priest said at the funeral yesterday of Mr Sean Devlin (31), who was shot dead in the Catholic Markets area of the city.

Canon Peter McCann said that it was obscene to link the murder of Mr Devlin to a solution of the city's drug problem. DAAD, which is viewed as a cover name for the IRA, admitted killing Mr Devlin on Monday afternoon while he was visiting a friend's house in Friendly Street. Two gunmen entered the house and shot him three times in the head. A 13-year-old girl was in the house at the time.

"It would appear that, for want of a better word, some court somewhere decided on a death sentence for him and that two men were appointed to carry out the death sentence," Canon McCann said. "We should make no mistake about the fact that the people who did this were murderers and the people who sent them out and appointed them were murderers.

"There is no shortage of murderers in the whole of Ireland, but there's a difference here. The difference is that this organisation, calling itself Direct Action Against Drugs, claims to be acting on behalf of the community in dealing with what is a drug problem.

"This organisation would not be able to carry out its function were it not for the regrettable approval given by very many people. It is deplorable that any kind of approval should be given for what very definitely is murder. It is a terrible way of giving approval and support to something that is a dreadful crime in the eyes of God, and to link that with a solution to the drug problem is obscene."

Mr Devlin is DAAD's eighth murder victim. The RUC insists that the organisation is a front for the IRA. Six of the victims were killed while the IRA ceasefire was in place.

Mr Devlin, known locally as "Webber", had lived in the Markets area until 1994, but moved after being ordered out by the IRA because of alleged drug-dealing.

About 200 people attended the funeral service at St Malachy's Church.