IRA informer for British removed for his safety

A guerrilla-turned-informer has been spirited out of Northern Ireland by British security men after betraying dozens of colleagues, Roman Catholic sources say. They link his disappearance with a wave of arrests last week, in which British troops rounded up 30 suspected IRA supporters.

The IRA has killed five alleged informers in the past year in an attempt to deter what they see as treachery. But informed sources say the police and the 12 ,000-strong British garrison in the province are getting a steady flow of useful information about IRA activity.