New IRA cabal covering distance in police vehicle (5,5)
I believe the answer is:
black maria
'police vehicle' is the definition.
(informal term for a vehicle transporting prisoners)
'new ira cabal covering distance' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
an anagram of 'ira' is 'ari' which is present in the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
'in' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for black maria that I've seen before include "vehicle for criminals" , "Nick vehicle" , "Old police van for transporting prisoners" , "Van with criminals" , "Police prisoners' transport" .)