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The Scottish National Liberation Army (SNLA), sometimes dubbed the 'Tartan Terrorists', is a militant group, which aims to bring about Scottish independence from the United Kingdom. The SNLA has been proscribed by the British government. The group has been reported to have been founded by Adam Busby, a former soldier from Paisley after the 1979 devolution referendum, which the organization claimed was fixed.

Origins
Scotland first became recognized as an unified nation during the 9th century. For the next 450 years, the Kings of Scotland ruled the region in northern Britannia, first through the mac Alpin line, and later through a mixture of Celtic custom and feudal government. As the Scottish noblemen continually consolidated their hold on the crown, they found themselves increasingly under attentions of the Anglo-Norman kings of England. The period from 1296-1424 was became one of the most turbulent times in Scottish history and was marked by an almost continuous state of war with England. Finally, in 1603, King James VI of Scotland became James the I of England, and the crowns of the two countries were unified. A century later, the Act of Union united the parliaments of the two countries into a single functional governmental system. Even at this time, the signing of the Act of Union was viewed by many to be a decision made entirely by the nobility without concern for the support of the lower classes. While neither side was happy with the arrangement, there proved to be pros and cons for both. The Scottish nation became part of a competitive force in global affairs, something that their country was unable to provide alone. The English gained an increased measure of security as other European countries wouldn’t be able to use Scotland as a base of operations against the English. The countries coexist quite peacefully to this day for the most part, but there still exists a sizeable portion of the population that believes that their freedom was to high a price to pay for economic stability.

Scottish Home Rule Movement
The 1880’s saw the introduction of Scottish home rule as a serious issue in UK politics. There were three factors that primarily contributed to the emergence of this movement. First, there was a growing feeling north of the border that the government was not devoting enough of its time or resources toward Scottish problems. This feeling of neglect was compounded by the fact that an alarming rise in violent crime in Ireland led to them getting more attention. Secondly, the Scots were rewarded for their peaceful protestations by being given a purely administrative position in the British parliament through which their grievances could be passed, where as the violent Irish uprising lead to institution of an Irish parliament. Thirdly, there was a growing sense of nationalism in Scotland due in a large part to a perceived misallocation of government subsidies to other locations, specifically London. These sentiments resulted in the formation of what was initially a nationalist part, but what later would become a political movement known as the Scottish Home Rule Movement. The discovery of oil in the North Sea in the 1970s led to a resurgence of a desire for independence among the Scottish people. A referendum was called in the Scottish parliament and the resulted in a majority voting in favor of devolution, however, the resulting “Scotland Act” was repealed in the British Parliament on the grounds of improper procedure. As a result, many of the Scottish MPs removed their support from parliament. It was out of these seeds of discontent that the Scottish National Liberation Army was born.

Early Activity of the SNLA
In December 1980 the Scottish National Liberation Army was formed, though they didn’t adopt that name until after their first successful operation. The five founding members were lead by Adam Busby, and believed that the outcome of the Devolution referendum demanded an immediate response. An unnamed source within the SNLA stated, "What people don't realise is that the SNLA isn't a protest group. We're not a political party or a social club either. We are a secret revolutionary group with only one object. We only have one purpose and that is to achieve our aims. We are out to win. And we'll use any methods we see fit to do that regardless of the cost. And if that means using WMD (Weapons Of Mass Destruction) then we don't flinch from it - we welcome it because if it's got to be done then we are anxious to do it.” The first recorded terrorist attack that was conducted by the group in 1981 involved Willie McRae, an early member best known for the mysterious circumstances surrounding his death in 1985. In the 1940s, British biologists conducted a wartime experiment involving anthrax spores on an island off the northwest coast of Scotland called Gruinard. Small quantities of dirt that was believed to be contaminated with anthrax spores from this site was dumped in two locations in England. The first site was the perimeter of the Porton Down complex in Wiltshere, the location of Britain’s biological weapons research facility. The second site was at the foot of the Blackpool Tower during the Conservative Party’s Blackpool Conference. The high profile nature of the attack caused a minor panic and resulted in the government’s promise to decontaminate the entire island of Gruinard. Upon completion of what was then dubbed “The Dark Harvest Operation,” the founding members decided to rename the group the Scottish National Liberation Army and begin their campaign to promote Scottish independence. Interestingly, co-founder Douglas Ross died a year after the operation was completed and Willie McRae was found shot to death in his car 3 years later. Some believe they were killed because of their association with the SNLA. From March 1st 1982 (a date significant as the 3rd anniversary of the failure of Devolution referendum) through the end of 1983, the SNLA conducted a letter-bomb campaign against officials in the British government. Among the targets was Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, to whom a letter-bomb was sent to a London Hotel where she was addressing 100 conservative candidates, and John Nott, an MP serving in the position of British Defense Secretary. Although both attempts failed to injure the targets (due primarily to a series of mistakes by the SNLA), the group obtained something that was just as valuable to their cause, publicity. A steady stream of attacks against government targets continued over the course of the next few months, but the introduction of x-ray machines to screen mail prompted a change of tactics for the group. In November 1982, they used petrol to burn out the temporary headquarters of the Tory party and the national headquarters of the Labor party in Glascow. In February1983 the SNLA burned down two barracks on the Redford Army Base in Edinburgh and disrupted the first visit of Princess Diana to Glascow by detonating an letter-bomb in the Lord Provost’s office. Adam Busby, the group’s founder and most influential member, fled to Ireland in September 1983 to avoid prosecution for conspiracy, effectively ending the letter-bomb campaign.

Development of Weapons of Mass Destruction
As early as 1995, the SNLA began to demonstrate that they were capable of employing tactics that would result in mass civilian casualties. In 1999, Busby issued a threat to contaminate water supplies by bypassing the filtration an purification systems and pumping Paraquat (a herbicide which when ingested by humans results in severe respiratory distress and death) directly into the water mains via fire hydrants. The British government responded swiftly by dispatching police officers and undercover SAS teams as “hydrant patrols” in major cities. In addition, they began to stockpile emergency water supplies in plastic containers and tankers. Since the estimated water use of the British population is 500 million liters per day, the cost of maintaining these reserves was staggering. On July 10th, Adam Busby was arrested for questioning about this plot, and the government released the story to the press. Although the threat was never carried out, the SNLA was able to propagate fear among the civilian population and instigate an expensive government emergency response. In the late 1990s, the SNLA discovered that the American Militia had a long standing interest in and apparently knowledge of biological WMDs. In order to obtain information on constructing and implementing these devices, the SNLA dispatched two members to the United States and formed the Scottish-American Milita, the first overseas branch of the organization. In the later months of 2000, the SAM began a series of approximately 45 hoax anthrax attacks on British targets in America. The chaos that ensued as a result of these hoaxes was compounded by the fact that the restrictions on the press are less in the United States than in the United Kingdom, consequently the attacks received significantly greater publicity.

Other Activities
In 2002 Cherie Blair became a target of a renewed campaign by the SNLA when she was sent an anonymous parcel containing a vial that was crudely labeled as containing 'Massage Oil', but which on investigation actually proved to contain caustic acid. In addition to this attempted attack a renewed letter bomb campaign was waged against Scottish politicians the same year. The parcels were recovered after a man claiming to be from the Scottish National Liberation Army made an anonymous phone call to Scotland Yard. Professor Paul Wilkinson opined at the time: "The SNLA has surfaced from time to time." Meanwhile, Busby may be targeted for extradition to America to face terror charges following a series of e-mails to America about how to contaminate US water supplies.

In February 2007, SNLA involvement was claimed in the fatal Grayrigg derailment of a Virgin train traveling from London to Glasgow. A points failure was later found to be responsible.

In June 2009, Adam Busby Jr., the son of the SNLA founder, was jailed for 6 years for sending a total of 6 packages to various political figures, including First Minister Alex Salmond, Liberal Democrats MSP Mike Rumbles and Glasgow City Council. The packages contained shotgun cartridges and threatening notes. Police linked the crimes to Busby after calls made to journalists claiming SNLA responsibility for the actions were traced to his mobile phone.

In July 2010 Adam Busby Sr. was sentenced by an Irish court to four years in jail after being convicted in June 2010 of making hoax bomb threats against transatlantic flights.

Associated organisations
The Scottish Separatist Group (SSG) has been described as the political wing of the SNLA. The SSG was formed in 1995 by former members and supporters of the SNLA. Both groups want to reverse English immigration into Scotland and promote Gaelic as the country’s national language.