Republican Action Against Drugs (RAAD) was an Irish republican vigilante group active mainly in Derry and the surrounding area, including parts of counties Londonderry and Tyrone in Northern Ireland, and parts of County Donegal in the Republic of Ireland. It targeted those who it claimed were drug dealers.^[1] The group's methods included shooting the alleged dealers in the arms and legs ("punishment shootings"); pipe bomb or arson attacks on the property of alleged dealers; and warning, threatening or banishing the alleged dealers.^[2]

In July 2012, it was announced that RAAD was merging with the Real Irish Republican Army and other independent republican paramilitary groups to form what is referred to as the New IRA.^[3][4]

The group formed in late 2008.^[2] It frequently issued statements via the Derry Journal.^[5] Shortly after its foundation, it offered an "amnesty" to all drug dealers, asking them to make themselves known to the group before giving an assurance that they had stopped dealing.^[2] In an interview with the Derry Journal in August 2009, the group's leadership explained: "We would monitor the actions of those who have come forward and, given an adequate period of time, interest in those drug dealers would cease and they could start to lead normal lives".^[2] The group claims to have an intelligence network within the Derry area and stated, "We would never act unless we hold undeniable evidence that the person punished has been dealing in drugs. We regularly compile information on certain individuals – including CCTV footage and statements from those who have received drugs from these people". As its name suggests, it comes from an Irish republican background.^[2]

In the 1990s, a group calling itself Direct Action Against Drugs (DAAD) operated in Northern Ireland and used similar methods. Many believe DAAD was linked to the Provisional Irish Republican Army.^[6] On the topic of politics, RAAD's leadership said: "There is absolutely no political agenda within our organisation. Our only aim is to eliminate drug dealers from our society and put an end to them destroying our community". The RAAD leadership claimed that some of its members had been involved with the Provisional IRA in the past, and added that Sinn Féin members and officials "have approached us privately, claiming that they support what we are attempting to achieve".^[2]

In an October 2010 interview with the Strabane Chronicle, a RAAD spokesman claimed all of its members are former republican volunteers who support the peace process.^[7] During an investigation into RAAD in June 2012, the home of the Sinn Féin Mayor of Derry, Kevin Campbell, was raided and searched by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).^[8][9] The group was the focus of a 2010 BBC Northern Ireland Spotlight documentary.^[10]

In April 2010, RAAD announced its amnesty for drug dealers would end on 1 June 2010 and that anyone continuing to sell drugs afterwards could be killed.^[11] In early June, the Derry Journal reported that RAAD had ordered ten drug dealers to leave Derry immediately.^[12] The following month, it claimed that it had given another Derry man 48 hours to leave the country.^[13] Around the same time, a Derry teenager publicly apologised for having sold drugs after he was threatened by the group.^[14]

In July 2010, Kieran McCool; a 42-year-old Derry man was arrested after police found a "scanning device, paramilitary clothing and balaclavas" in his car and a makeshift stun gun in his home. He was described in court as a "key member" of RAAD, but he denied the charge and claimed the stun gun was for his own protection. A detective said that attacks by RAAD had lessened since the McCool's arrest. He was electronically tagged and put under curfew.^[15]

RAAD claimed its first killing in February 2012 when it shot dead Andrew Allen, a father of two, at his home in an estate in Ludden outside Buncrana, County Donegal. Although this was strongly denied by his family, the group claimed Allen had been warned to stop drug dealing but had not done so. They added that Allen was one of six people who would be executed.^[16] Later that month, it was reported that RAAD had begun operating in North Belfast, although it is not known if the Belfast group was linked to the one in Derry.^[17]

In June 2012, RAAD members attacked a PSNI vehicle in Derry with a blast bomb. This was the first time it had attacked security forces, claiming the attack was "a direct response to increased and ever more brutal attacks on republicans and their families" and warned that such attacks would continue "as long as the security forces continue to victimise republican areas". By the time of the attack, many republicans were claiming that RAAD had become a political, dissident republican group.^[18]

On 26 July, an announcement was made that RAAD was merging with the Real IRA and other dissident republican paramilitaries, but not including the Continuity IRA.^[3][4] This created a new organization known as the New IRA.^[5]

In 2019, following an inquest held in Buncrana, the detective leading the investigation into Andrew Allen's murder told the media that RAAD's claims about their victim were "rubbish".^[19]

This section is in list format but may read better as prose. (May 2022)

The following is a timeline of actions that have been claimed by, or blamed on, Republican Action Against Drugs.