The head of the Northern Ireland Prison Service has told of the fear among staff following the disclosure that their personal details have fallen into the hands of the IRA.

A special police unit has been set up to warn those whose names appear on a list seized during an investigation of IRA intelligence gathering.

The discovery was made during raids in north and west Belfast and Stormont last Friday.

The Prison Officers' Association said last week they feared 2,000 names, addresses and telephone numbers of officers may be on the list.

Why would anybody want to gather and collate that type of information unless they basically had further acts of violence and murder in mind

Marcus Lewis Prison officer

Prison service director Peter Russell said a definitive statement from the IRA that his staff were not under threat would help minimise the fear.

"We are in close contact with the PSNI and they are certainly aware of the fear and uncertainty amongst our staff," he said.

"I am sure they are doing all they can to notify staff, whose names may have appeared on the files that have been recovered, as quickly as possible.

"We have been led to believe that a large number of staff might be involved so until the police have been able to notify those individuals concerned I would urge all staff, past and present, to be vigilant at this time."

On Thursday, a prison officer who has been in the job for 25 years, told of the heightened sense of fear among the staff.

Maimed

In a BBC Radio Ulster interview, Marcus Lewis described the gathering of names as "inexcusably evil".

"It's bad enough that for the last 18 months we have the loyalists attacking our homes with everything from petrol and blast bombs to firearms, terrorising our wives and our kids," he said.

"Now to be told that all of our names and addresses are in the hands of nationalist terrorists.

"For what reason? I've had 30 friends and colleagues murdered, I've had 414 maimed and basically for what?

"Why would anybody want to gather and collate that type of information unless they basically had further acts of violence and murder in mind? It is just inexcusably evil."

Mr Lewis said he and his colleagues were "simply doing a job" and could not understand why they should be targeted.

Family impact

He said that in a way the new threat was worse than the situation during the Troubles because many officers had got used to letting their guard down and could not face going back to the way things were before.

Mr Lewis added that many newly recruited "peacetime officers" did not know what to expect.

"They came into the service thinking they would not have to worry about the safety of themselves and their families," he said.

Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams: "We are concerned about all lists"

Meanwhile, Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams said if such a list existed, it would be a "matter of great concern".

"We know such lists were circulating about republicans and that was a matter of deep concern for us and our families," he said.

However, he said both Prime Minister Tony Blair and Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble had said recently that they did not believe the IRA was preparing to go back to war.

"The prison officers are certainly under no threat from us.

"I cannot speak for any other organisation. other than Sinn Fein, but an organisation like the IRA, which has been on cessation for such along time, is showing no sign of breaking that cessation," he added.