Scot 'posted list of drug dealers and execution threat' online

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A Scots man posted a list of Belfast drug dealers along with an execution threat on a Republican group’s Facebook page is now in court on trial for a terrorist offence.

Andrew Stephen Rae appeared at Laganside Court in Belfast on December 10 and has been charged with possessing documents or records useful to terrorism - namely that on March 22, 2022 he had a document containing a list of alleged drug dealers in Belfast together with a threat that they would be 'executed'.

This list and accompanying threat, the Crown say, is “of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism”.

The 43-year old, from Glasgow, had denied the offence and after a jury of seven men and five women were sworn at Belfast Crown Court, a prosecuting barrister opened the case against Rae, reports Belfast Live.

The Crown barrister told the jury that on September 6, 2021 a detective from the PSNI was conducting a search on a Facebook page set up by the Republican Activist Coalition.

As part of his research, the police officer captured an image of a post made on the Facebook page on August 30, 2021. This post said ‘For too long drug-dealing scum have gone under the radar while wrecking communities with the poison they sell. When Covid 19 passes, the real pandemic still goes on. Drug addiction contributes overwhelmingly to negative mental health, homelessness and suicide. Starting this week, we will be naming everyone who we know is selling in our communities. Stay tuned.’

The barrister said the post attracted several reactions including shares and comments. Whilst one comment said ‘fair play, get rid of the rats’, a screenshot of an image which the Crown say was posted by the defendant also appeared in the threat under the post.

At 6.34am on August 31, 2021, a Facebook user called ‘Andy Rae’ posted a screenshot consisting of a list of 25 names of alleged drug dealers in Belfast. The image also contained text which mentioned ‘The Republican Movement’ and that all those on the list ‘will be executed’.

After this screenshot appeared on the Facebook page, the PSNI launched an investigation to locate the person who posted the image. The Facebook details of the poster were traced to Rae’s address in Glasgow and on March 22, 2022 officers from the PSNI, accompanied by their colleagues in Police Scotland, attended his flat.

When the officers called, Rae was in bed but he was cautioned, arrested and his mobile phone was seized. As he was being taken to the police station, Rae told his girlfriend ‘I know what this is about. Facebook’.

During an interview with police at the station, Rae admitted having the list and posting it on the Republican Activist Coalition Facebook page on August 31, 2021. Whilst he didn’t answer initial questions, Rae then provided an account. He told police he came across the image as a screenshot, copied it to his phone then shared it on the Facebook page.

Rae also claimed he couldn’t remember where he found it but believed it was an image of something that had appeared on lamp-posts and in bars around Belfast.

When asked during interview why he had posted the image, Rae said he thought the people on the list had already been named and he was posting them again. The Crown barrister revealed that those people named on the list were spoken to by police about the threats made against them before the screenshot appeared on Facebook on August 31, 2021.

He added that when Rae’s mobile phone was seized in March 2022, the image of the list of names that he posted the previous August was still on his device. He told the jury: “The prosecution say that a list of alleged drug dealers, together with a threat that they would be killed, are not records in everyday possession of members of the public.

“They would be of practical use to a Republican terrorist group, or any terrorist group, which wants to replace the police and take over their role by enforcing their own version of justice in the community.”

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