Direct Action Against Drugs (DAAD), which has previously been a cover-name for the Provisional IRA, has apparently returned to the streets of Northern Ireland.
A caller claiming to represent the group, which murdered more than a dozen people in the North, has admitted responsibility for beating an alleged leading drug dealer with baseball bats in Co Armagh last month.
DAAD began killing drug dealers just seven months after the IRA ceasefire and killed 14 over the next six years. It was widely regarded as a front organisation for the Provisionals.
Its helped keep hardline IRA members occupied and was a means of channelling dissatisfaction and frustration with the peace process.
However, DAAD has not been active in recent years and the security forces are assessing what the latest attack means and who is behind it.
Six masked men entered the victim's flat in Glenholme Park in the nationalist Taghnevan area of Lurgan. The victim, who is in his mid-30s, was beaten with baseball bats.
He suffered injuries to his arms and legs, requiring hospital treatment. The attack took place on July 14. A caller, using a codeword, telephoned the Lurgan Mail hours later to claim responsibility on behalf of DAAD.
He named the victim whom he alleged was a "leading North Armagh drug dealer". The caller told Lurgan Mail editor, Clint Aiken, that "volunteers" had "seized and destroyed" drugs, including cocaine and ecstasy, during the attack.
Political considerations make it highly unlikely that the mainstream IRA was involved. Local sources said it was either the work of a breakaway group of Provisionals or, more likely, that the Continuity IRA (CIRA) had carried out the attack and had now adopted the DAAD cover-name.
CIRA is growing in strength in the town and has an established presence in the nationalist Kilwilkie Estate. A PSNI spokesman said police were aware of the claim of responsibility and urged anyone with information to contact detectives.
Republicans have previously targeted alleged drug dealers in Lurgan. In 1996, DAAD shot dead Ian Lyons as he sat in a car with his girlfriend in the town.
Local DUP MP, David Simpson, said: "The name DAAD is well-known both locally and across Northern Ireland as a flag of convenience for the Provisional IRA. The apparent reappearance of this organisation, which is remembered for murdering individuals in the past, is a cause for concern.
"The 'sub-contracting' of vigilantism will not be tolerated. We want to see Northern Ireland develop into a society where democracy flourishes and the rule of law is respected. This sort of activity, irrespective of the source, is the stuff of the past".
