Byrne issues Stoat warning

By Tom Haggard The Garda superintendent, Pat Byrne, today issued a warning about suspicious materials being distributed by post and via the internet by an organisation known as 'Stoat'. 'This group has been under investigation by the Gardai for some time', he said. 'It has been implicated in a number of acts of subversion and sabotage and is considered to be a growing threat. Parents should monitor their childrens' use of the internet, and any items arriving through the post from an unknown source should under no circumstances be opened, but instead immediately reported to the Gardai.' Little is known about Stoat, but the core of the organisation is thought to be formed from two members of a well-known boy band who were dismissed in close succession early in that band's career, together with

a man of Russian extraction who gained some notoriety as a hotel bassonist in Co. Meath in the late 1980s. Their activities are reported to have at one stage have centred around a tattoo parlour in the northside of Dublin, though in recent months they appear to have gone underground and their present whereabouts are unknown. Rumours of infiltration of a certain state agency by the group are unconfirmed. A statement allegedly from 'Stoat' received by this newspaper claims that the organisation draws inspiration from the seminal rock'n'roll outfit Johnny Thunderhead and the Nuclear Bombs, and vows to continue its campaign of disruption. Gardai have appealed for anybody with information on the group, or who has seen persons matching the description of those in the accompanying photograph, to come forward.