Scottish National Liberation Army
| Scottish National Liberation Army | |
|---|---|
| Also known as | Tartan Terrorists |
| Leader | Adam Busby |
| Dates of operation | 1980–present |
| Country | Scotland |
| Ideology | Scottish nationalism Scottish republicanism Scottish independence |
| Major actions | Letter bombs, arson |
| Allies | Scottish Separatist Group (political wing) |
The Scottish National Liberation Army (SNLA), nicknamed the Tartan Terrorists, is a Scottish nationalist paramilitary group which aims to bring about Scottish independence from the United Kingdom. The group was founded in 1980 by Adam Busby, a former soldier from Paisley after the 1979 devolution referendum, which the organisation claims was fixed.
The SNLA has been condemned by the UK government,[1] along with Scottish National Party (SNP) leader John Swinney, who described the organisation as people who "have no interest in Scotland or the Scottish people", and that its members were "not nationalists, they are criminals plain and simple."[2]
History
[edit]Formation
[edit]The SNLA was founded by Adam Busby, a former soldier who served in the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders in 1980.[3][4][2] The organisation was formed in the wake of the 1979 Scottish devolution referendum,[5] which despite resulted in the majority of voters (51.6%) supporting the establishment of a devolved parliament in Scotland, this never came to fruition as there was only a 64% voter turnout, with the Yes vote representing only 32.9% of registered voters in the referendum, which did not meet the requirements for at least 40% of voters voting in favour, per the Scotland Act 1978.[6] Busby felt that this outcome called for a more forceful approach towards achieving independence.[5]
Activity
[edit]In 1982, The SNLA claimed responsibility for numerous letter bomb incidents and arson attacks, which included a firebomb attack at a Conservative party headquarters located in Glasgow, and the delivery of two explosive packages to the Scottish Social Democratic Party headquarters in Edinburgh, both of which were subsequently diffused by the authorities upon discovery by office staff.[3] The same year, a letter bomb was sent to the House of Commons addressed to John Nott, the then-Secretary of State for Defence.[7] A man had telephoned the Glasgow offices of the Scotsman, claiming that a bomb had been sent to Nott by the SNLA in response to the newly announced changes to the UK's trident programme.[3] The bomb subsequently arrived at House of Commons on 17 March, which was later reported after being discovered by a Ministry of Defence member, who narrowly escaped detonating the bomb.[5] The device was initially thought by the media to have been the work of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) as it coincidentally arrived at the commons on St. Patrick's Day.[5][7]
In 1983, letter bombs were sent to Diana, Princess of Wales, and to then-prime minister, Margaret Thatcher.[4][2] The device sent to Thatcher was posted to a hotel located in North London, where a Conservative Party Conference was due to take place, and was discovered and opened by parliamentarian Robert Key, but there was no explosion.[4] Busby fled to Dublin in 1983 after the letter-bombing campaign; he was jailed in connection with that campaign in 1997.[4]
In 1993, organisation commander Andrew McIntosh was sentenced to 12 years in jail for attempting to force the establishment of an independent government in Scotland.[8] The High Court in Aberdeen heard that McIntosh had orchestrated a campaign of fear tactics, which involved placing hoax explosives outside oil industry buildings and mailing genuine letter bombs to the Scottish Office in Edinburgh.[1] After serving six years, McIntosh was released in 1999.[8] He was arrested again for firearms possession on 9 October 2004, the same day Queen Elizabeth II appeared at the opening ceremony of the newly completed Scottish Parliament Building, and committed suicide whilst in custody a few days later, just hours before he was due to reappear in the Aberdeen Sheriff Court for his offences.[9][8]
In 2002, Cherie Blair became a target of a renewed campaign by the SNLA when she was sent an anonymous parcel containing a vial that was crudely labelled as containing aromatherapy oil, but which on investigation proved to contain caustic acid.[2][10] In addition, a renewed letter bomb campaign was waged against Scottish politicians, parcels were recovered after a man claiming to be from the SNLA made an anonymous phone call to the police at London's Scotland Yard. Professor Paul Wilkinson opined at the time: "The SNLA has surfaced from time to time."[10]
In 2006, it was reported that the group was being investigated by the Home Office and Strathclyde Police, after the group had sent an e-mail to the Glasgow offices of The Sunday Times, threatening to poison England's water supplies.[1] The e-mail stated: "Our aim is to poison water supplies in England, not in the entire UK. We have the means to do this and we shall. This is a war and we intend to win it."[1] In addition, it was reported that Adam Busby may be targeted for extradition to the United States to face terror charges, following a series of e-mails to the country about how to contaminate US water supplies.[1]
In January 2008, two men, Wayne Cook and Steven Robinson were convicted in Manchester of sending miniature bottles of vodka contaminated with caustic soda to various public figures, which included Blackburn with Darwen councillor John Wright, and Scottish Daily Express journalist Myra Philp, and threatening to kill English people "at random and with no discrimination or compunction" by poisoning English water supplies, echoing a previous threat made in 2006.[11][12] The poisoned bottle sent to Philp was accompanied by a letter signed 'SNLA' stating "This is necessary to convince the British Government that we will lethally poison England's water supplies, if they do not withdraw totally from Scotland."[11] Cook and Robinson were each sentenced by the Manchester Crown Court to six years in jail for these offences.[12]
In June 2009, Adam Busby Jr., the son of the SNLA founder, was jailed for 6 years for sending a total of 6 packages to various political figures, including First Minister Alex Salmond, Liberal Democrat MSP Mike Rumbles and Glasgow City Council. The packages contained shotgun cartridges and threatening notes. Police linked the crimes to Busby after calls made to journalists claiming SNLA responsibility for the actions were traced to his mobile phone.[13]
In July 2010, Adam Busby Sr. was sentenced by an Irish court to four years in jail after being convicted in June 2010 of making hoax bomb threats against transatlantic flights.[14] Busby was released from jail on 21 March 2014, and was reported at the time to be living in a Dublin hostel, banned from internet access, and was awaiting verdicts about possible extradition to Scotland and the US.[15] In February 2015, Busby was extradited back to Scotland.[16] In October of that year, however, a Glasgow court ruled that Busby, who at the time was diagnosed with Multiple sclerosis, was medically unfit to be tried over multiple bomb threats.[17] In 2017, the Sheriff court of Lothian and Borders in Edinburgh ruled that Busby, by then 69, was too ill to be sent to the US, as multiple sclerosis was at an advanced stage.[16]
Associated organisations
[edit]The Scottish Separatist Group (SSG; Scottish Gaelic: Comunn Dealachadh na h-Alba) has been described as the political wing of the SNLA.[5][1] The SSG was formed in 1995 by former members and supporters of the SNLA, who wanted to reverse English immigration into Scotland and promote Scottish Gaelic as the country's national language.[1][5]
In 2006, the Home Office launched an investigation into the SSG under the Terrorism Act 2006 after the party had allegedly published detailed instructions on how to contaminate English water supplies.[1] The published material was said to provide instructions on how to craft and use an unnamed substance, which was described as a "WMD" in the publication, to permanently poison the water supplies of major UK cities, with the aim of "destroying the economic, political and military power of the state by poisoning and contaminating the drinking water supplies of any major city."[1]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e f g h i Macaskill, Mark; Allardyce, Jason (10 September 2006). "SNLA threat to poison water supply". The Sunday Times. Archived from the original on 11 March 2007.
- ^ a b c d "The return of our fiends in the north". The Independent. 6 March 2002.
- ^ a b c Murray Scott, Andrew (1990). Britain's Secret War: Tartan Terrorism and the Anglo-American State. Mainstream Publishing. p. 132-165. ISBN 1-85158-306-8.
- ^ a b c d Who are the 'tartan terrorists'? BBC News Website, 2 March 2002
- ^ a b c d e f Leslie, David (2006). Inside A Terrorist Group, The Story of the SNLA.
- ^ Taylor, Brian. "1979 Remembered". BBC News. BBC. Retrieved 10 June 2024.
- ^ a b "Last flight to bleak exile". The Herald. 9 June 1993.
- ^ a b c "Tartan terrorist found hanging in cell hours before facing court". The Scotsman. 19 October 2004.
- ^ Firearms charge man dies in jail BBC News Website, 18 October 2004
- ^ a b Politicians on alert over mail scare BBC News Website, 2 March 2002
- ^ a b "Vodka poisoned in 'terror plot'". BBC News. BBC. 7 January 2008.
- ^ a b Batty, David (25 January 2008). "Nationalists jailed over poison plot". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 September 2019.
- ^ Six years for 'tartan terrorist' BBC News Website, 18 June 2009
- ^ Carrell, Severin (23 July 2010). "Scottish separatist Adam Busby jailed for Heathrow bomb hoaxes". The Guardian. London.
- ^ University of Pittsburgh bomb threat suspect released from jail in Ireland, CBS News, 1 April 2014
- ^ a b Fuoco, Michael (8 November 2017). "Scottish man charged in 2012 Pitt bomb threats avoids extradition". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
- ^ Scottish separatist leader not fit to stand trial on terror charges, 15 October 2015