Statement by TUV leader Jim Allister:
“I commend the News Letter for their efforts in revealing that the PSNI holds some 3,000 weapons from the terrorist campaign – material which has the potential to be a treasure trove of forensic evidence. These weapons should have already been tested for DNA and I will be raising this matter with the Chief Constable when I meet him tomorrow.
“Sadly in his short time in office we have already seen an unhealthy focus on politics from the Chief Constable with his pronouncements on Brexit. Could it be that these weapons have not been tested because of the political problems they would create?
“At a time when elderly veterans of Operation Banner are being dragged to court I find it incredible that the PSNI would hold this sort of material which could see terrorists in court and not make use of it.
“With revelations from Government papers in the last few days that Republicans were encouraged to decommission because it would mean that forensic evidence would no longer be available, victims of terror will understandably be suspicious about the keenness of the powers that be to use this evidence to the full. I will be pressing the Chief Constable for a commitment that all evidential leads which can be provided by this material will be exhausted.”