Northern Ireland’s force has referred itself to the information Commissioner over a data leak involving 152 people.

The force confirmed it had referred itself to the Office of the Police Ombudsman and Information Commissioner’s Office.

They are looking into why the details of 152 people were shared with US police and intelligence agencies.

The list included both Loyalists and Republicans and the force’s extradition unit is involved.

Details of the breach were first reported by the Belfast Telegraph. Four of the people involved said they had not travelled to the United States in the last 10 years or applied for travel visas.

Assistant Chief Constable Christopher Todd, Senior Information Risk Officer, has written to those affected to apologise and advise them of the circumstances.  

Jamie Bryson, who represents four of the people affected said: “The PSNI have consistently wrongly handed over sensitive and private data to third parties.”

“This incompetence is a matter of the utmost seriousness.”

The force said the referral was part of a long-term investigation and changes had already been made to procedures.

Chief Superintendent Sam Donaldson said: “We have recently been investigating a data breach within our Extradition Unit. This is an issue we take extremely seriously and as part of our investigation we made a self-referral to the Office of the Police Ombudsman and informed the Information Commissioner’s Office.

“In some cases this sharing may have influenced the decision making of external law enforcement agencies in respect of travel to the United States of America.”