The PSNI chief constable has said only police officers were present during operations linked to the wake of Hooded Man Kevin Hannaway.
Concerns were raised after six members of anti-agreement party Saoradh were stopped by police after leaving Mr Hannaway’s wakehouse on the outskirts of west Belfast last month.
Pictures taken at the time show several masked men wearing jackets branded ‘police’.
Unusually, none of the men appeared to have shoulder identification numbers on display and were wearing grey coloured combat trousers as opposed to regular PSNI issue clothing.
The ‘stop and search’ operation came as it was reported that MI5 officers were deployed in west Belfast ahead of Mr Hannaway’s funeral.
Two men were also arrested during a separate incident a day later under the Justice and Security Act as they made their way to Mr Hannaway’s wake.
They were later released without charge.
At the time the PSNI did not respond directly questions about the presence of MI5 but did confirm that “a number of vehicles were stopped and searched….under the Justice and Security (Northern Ireland) Act 2007″.
A spokeswoman for the PSNI confirmed on Friday that the officers featured in the images were “Counter Terrorism Firearms Officers”.
Sinn Féin Policing Board member Gerry Kelly raised the issue at the Policing Board on Thursday.
In response, Chief Constable, Jon Boutcher said police officers were deployed to the area for the funeral “because of significant community concerns that were made to us that there as a real potential for a paramilitary display to be associated with the funeral or the wake including the use of firearms”.
Mr Boutcher also referred to the arrest of the two Saoradh members in west Belfast adding that he was “very happy to confirm that it’s only police officers that were involved in that incident and it’s police officers that had their pictures taken”.
The police chief said he was aware of the operation in advance, “of what we wanted to do and afterwards that we would take the action we needed to take”.
He added that the operation was “supported by the crime department”.
“The information that we have suggests that the police operation disrupted the reckless intentions, lets put it that way, of violent dissident republicans”.
He added “these were police officers in that picture and nobody else from any other organisation”.
Questioned about the failure of officers to wear identification numbers, Mr Boutcher said “it’s nothing” and “it was a mistake by the officers”.
“I was grumpy about that, it’s been addressed, and it’s not more than that, honestly, there’s no special unit, there’s nothing like that happening.
“I knew what was going to happen, I wanted a police operation, I wanted to stop it and the officers didn’t have the correct uniform on.”