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SCMP Reporter

IRISH Republican Army terrorists have visited Hongkong twice in recent years and pinpointed a number of ''soft'' military targets for attack, the Sunday Morning Post has learned.

  The revelation of visits to the territory by the feared paramilitaries comes as a security expert warns the IRA plans to commit an act of terrorism here before 1997 in a bid for worldwide publicity.

    Security at Government House was tested by a Special Air Service (SAS) unit from Britain soon after Governor Mr Chris Patten arrived. Members of the unit are said to have ''walked'' through the security arrangements and made a report recommending changes, which do not appear to have been implemented.

    The reduction of the British garrison in Hongkong before 1997 may also encourage a terrorist attack, it is feared.

  Security at several Army targets, identified by the visit of an IRA unit between 1987 and 1988, appears to be worryingly lax.

    The four-man unit spent several days here and was closely monitored by Special Branch officers, who were tipped off by security services in Britain.

    It was regarded as a visit to gather information about possible targets, and was about the time when three IRA members were shot and killed by the SAS in Gibraltar.

  The British Army believed the three intended to detonate a large remote-controlled bomb during a Changing of the Guard ceremony on March 8, 1988 - raising the possibility the IRA was looking at Hongkong as an alternative to Gibraltar.

  Security was stepped up in the territory immediately after the incident, not least because the Duke of Edinburgh's Royal Regiment was posted in Hongkong from Northern Ireland at the time.

  The terrorist organisation would regard Hongkong as a legitimate target, not only because of Mr Patten - a former Conservative MP and a former junior minister for Northern Ireland - but also because the Black Watch, which has also done a tour of duty in the troubled province, is stationed here.

  The IRA unit in Hongkong was easily tracked by the detectives.

  Their phones were tapped and their movements monitored, but they committed no offences and were allowed to leave.

    A former senior Government security chief involved in the IRA inquiry, said: ''The IRA is now using Englishmen as well as their own compatriots and that may help them integrate, but the bombing of a 'soft' military target is more likely.

  ''They could place it with a timer device under a military car or a bus and be in Bangkok or Manila and on their way home before it explodes. Getting explosives wouldn't be difficult here, either from across the border, or by making their own in Hongkong.

  ''I'm convinced they will attack before 1997. Hongkong is one of the last British colonial military outposts. It's a major world communications centre, and it's got a very high profile.

  ''Security gets very slack in Hongkong exactly because there's no major crime like this or outbreaks of violence.''   Among the targets the IRA is believed to have identified is The Smugglers Inn, a Stanley pub popular with British soldiers; Royden Court on Repulse Bay Road, where up to 200 officers live; HMS Tamar, Stanley and Sek Kong barracks, and the buses used to shuttle servicemen and their families, which can often be found unattended at the airport.

  The Sunday Morning Post visited each of the possible targets on Hongkong Island and apart from the camps, where security seems to have been tightened, our reporter was able to enter with impunity.

  At the rear of HMS Tamar, there is only a flimsy fence topped with barbed wire. There are no guards and no cameras.

  The Sunday Morning Post, however, found containers stacked either side of a corner of the fence and by placing a plank of wood across the barbed wire we would have been inside the compound undetected within seconds.

  Security at Royden Court is more lax than an average apartment block. There are no security guards and no coded entrance doors. Our reporter simply walked in and, by talking to a resident, was admitted inside a flat.

  There are barriers protecting the entrance to the servicemen's apartments outside Stanley Fort, and a sign warns of a restricted area where photographs are not allowed.

   In the woods at the back of the area, however, are steps leading down to the estate. A coded security door is at the bottom of the steps, but it is easily climbed and our reporter was able to get on to the roof of one block and pose for photographs.

  It would not serve the IRA's cause to kill local citizens, and so a bomb placed in a central location, such as a department store, is highly unlikely.

  The shooting of the Governor is also thought to be unrealistic as it is considered extremely difficult for a team of terrorists to get close to him with a gun.

  The second incident involving a known IRA member in the territory happened between 1989 and 1990, when an Irish woman using the name Maguire ''laid low'' here after fleeing security forces in Britain.

  She is believed to have worked in a Tsim Sha Tsui bar and became friendly with the prostitute at the centre of the Christopher Harris case, the former senior crown counsel convicted of sexual misconduct.

  Maguire became aware she was under surveillance by the Special Branch, and is thought to have stolen the prostitute's passport, altered it and fled the territory.

  A subsequent search of the prostitute's flat by detectives led to the discovery of incriminating evidence against Harris.

  Major Paddy Hartigan, of HMS Tamar, told the Sunday Morning Post : ''We never rule out the possibility of the IRA attacking any military target.

    ''We can't discount an attack here, and do regard it as likely that there could be one. We do have contingency plans to deal with a terrorist incident.'' 



Hongkong 'under IRA threat'