In the United States, a court in Florida has been told that one of the suspects in an alleged plot to smuggle weapons to Ireland was acting under IRA orders. A prosecutor earlier told a Florida court that one of the suspects in the alleged plot to smuggle weapons to Ireland told FBI agents he was taking part in an IRA arms procurement mission. Prosecutor Richard Scroggs said that Belfast born Conor Claxton had told officers on his arrest that he was directed by higher-ups in the IRA to buy weapons, because the peace process had failed. However, Gardaí have declined to speculate about which Republican group is behind the smuggling attempt.
The prosecutor said that Mr. Claxton declared that the guns would be used against members of the RUC, British security forces and Protestent paramilitary groups. The court heard that Mr. Claxton told FBI agents the IRA was his job. Mr. Claxton, Anthony Smyth and Siobhan Brown face charges under the US Arms Export Control Act. Today in a Ford Lauderdale Court, the prosecutor said that they would file additional charges against Mr. Claxton.
A lawyer for Mr. Claxton has said he has not discussed with his clients whether he is a member of the Provisional IRA or other dissident republican paramilitary groups. Mr. Abe Bailey said he could not comment on evidence that Mr. Claxton had admitted membership of the IRA. He also said he could not comment on whether Mr. Claxton was referring to the Provisional IRA or another paramilitary group.
Two handguns, a pistol and a revolver, which were found, together with about 30 rounds of ammunition, in the SDS office at the Naas road on the outskirts of Dublin this morning, are believed to be part of the consignment which police agencies discovered was being smuggled into the country from the United States. About forty .5 inch bullets of the type used in heavy machineguns and other weapons were also discovered in two packages labelled as containing parts for a Karaoke set.the packages, which also contained 11 empty magazines for AK47 rifles and four ammunition clips for pistols, have been removed to the Garda Technical Bureau for examination by ballistics experts. Garda sources say that a thorough search of the post will now be made to see if any other weapons may have come in.
Earlier reports from the US had spoken of a purchase of 26 handguns. The plot was discovered when a number of them were intercepted at Coventry airport. Subsequently, six were found in holiday home in the Inveran in Galway on Tuesday. Two people, a man and a woman, are still being questioned by Gardaí in Galway following the original find. They have had their period of detention extension by a further 24 hours. The order was made at a special sitting of Galway District Court this afternoon. The application was made by Chief Superintendent Tom Monaghan. Gardaí have until four o'clock tomorrow either to charge or release the two suspects.
The six handguns, which were seized at the house in Inveran, have now been taken to Garda headquarters in Dublin for further forensic tests. Four people of Irish origin have been charged in the US in connection with the gun-running. However, Gardaí say that they still do not know which Republican organisation was involved.
US federal agents are continuing their investigation into the alleged plot to smuggle guns and its understood they have detained a fourth person as a material witness in the case. It is now believed that the suspects in this case bought as many as 50 weapons from 5 different gun dealers in South Florida and had ordered up to 35 more. The FBI has said that the suspects were trying to buy high-powered automatic weapons before their arrest.
According to local media reports, one of the alleged conspirators, Siobhan Browne, had been under police surveillance since April. It is understood that they suspected her of arms trafficking after her name turned up on records handed over by local gun dealers. Ms. Brown is 34 and is originally from Cork. She emigrated to the United States in the 1980s and has been living in Florida since 1991.
Until recently, she worked in the Fort Lauderdale offices of a well-known international financial services company. Friends say she left her job abruptly about six months ago and disappeared. By this time she had begun a relationship with Belfast native, Anthony Smyth, who has lived in Florida since the 1980s. Brown, Smyth and a third suspect, Conor Anthony Claxton, are due to appear at a bond hearing at a federal court in Fort Lauderdale later today.
