Charlie Birds sensational story : Ransom 79 : Episode 3

Senior Times

The conclusion of Charlie Bird's incredible account of the 1979 attempt to blackmail to extort five million pounds from the Irish government Extortionists used personal ads in £5m ransom demand over foot-and-mouth disease A typed letter that arrived into the offices of the Department of Agriculture on Kildare Street in Dublin, addressed to the minister, was clear and to the point: “To get straight to the point, this is a demand for £5 million. “The reason for you paying us £5 million is very simple. If you do this, we shall not introduce to this country one of the most deadly and costliest diseases that could afflict any country, in particular an agricultural country, namely foot and mouth disease.” The letter was the opening salvo in an extortion demand that was taken extremely seriously at the time, and which has never been publicly disclosed before. Over the seven months following the letter’s receipt, communication between the State and the criminals proceeded by way of letters, a telephone call, and notices in the social and personal columns of Saturday editions of The Irish Times. “Let us state from the start that we are totally determined to go through with our threats to spread this disease,” the letter said. “You and your entire department are totally helpless to stop us.” There were five people involved, the letter said. They were from different backgrounds and each “reasonably financially secure”. They had invested time and money, including the payment of “inducements” abroad, to get to the position they were now in. After outlining aspects of how they proposed to proceed, the writer asked that another ad be placed in The Irish Times, this one on Saturday, December 8th. “If you agree to pay the money, you will simply state ‘Tom Smith has read your proposals and will agree to your conditions.’” Pic is Willie McGee, retired head of the fraud squad, and Charlie Bird, retired former RTÉ journalist, with The Irish Times newspapers from December 1979 through to February 1980 which contain ads used by the State to communicate with a foot and mouth disease ransom demand at the time. See link below - article appeared in the Irish Times https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/extortionists-used-personal-ads-in-5m-ransom-demand-over-foot-and-mouth-disease-1.4584576