Police set to act in stolen files probe
Detectives seeking the extradition from America of a chef at the centre of a major probe into stolen Special Branch files are ready to pass a file to prosecutors, it was revealed today.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland said the initial file had been completed by the investigation team and will be passed to the Director of Public Prosecutions “within days”.
The American chef, Larry Zaitschek, returned to New York soon after confidential documents on anti-terrorist informants were stolen in March when intruders broke into the Special Branch office at Castlereagh in east Belfast.
“Larry the Chef” denies any involvement in the break-in, but police sources say they are confident they can connect him to the raid and other IRA intelligence-gathering operations.
It is understood the chef’s estranged wife, Lisa, is a police witness in the case and is now on a witness protection scheme.
He has been questioned at least twice before – once in Belfast before he left for the United States, and then in New York by the officer heading up the investigation, Detective Chief Superintendent Phil Wright.
The chef worked in the canteen at Castlereagh and was on first-name terms with Special Branch and MI5 officers based there.
None of the missing papers have been recovered since the raid and nobody has been charged with the St Patrick’s Night break-in which embarrassed security chiefs.
They quickly pointed the finger of blame at the IRA, despite republican denials and accusations that it was an inside job.
The Government ordered its own inquiry and three months ago police in Belfast revealed that nine London Metropolitan Police officers had been called in to carry out a review of their investigation.
