An alleged former senior UVF member was among three men remanded in custody in Belfast in connection with a pipe bomb attack in Co Antrim seven years ago.
Police claimed the trio are suspected of involvement in a plot to target the girlfriend of a man who is due to give evidence about a brutal assault he was subjected to.
Robert Warnock, 62, William Young, 40, and 32-year-old Raymond Burns are each charged with belonging to the UVF at the time and conspiring to intimidate a prosecution witness, Trevor Gowdy.
Mr Young, from Silvio Street in the Shankill area of Belfast, is also accused of conspiracy to cause an explosion.
Mr Burns, from Ballyvessey Court in Newtownabbey, faces further counts of possessing a pipe bomb and causing an explosion.
All three men were charged by detectives from the PSNI's serious crime branch as part of Operation Ballast, an ongoing probe into UVF crime in North Belfast.
Resisting bail applications by Mr Burns and Mr Warnock from New Barnsley Park in Belfast, a PSNI detective constable based his opposition on the risk of interference with witnesses and further offences.
He told Belfast Magistrates Court the charges related to a pipe bomb attack in September 2003 at the family home in Larne of Mr Gowdy's then girlfriend.
He confirmed the case against the three accused was based on witness statements supplied by Newtownabbey brothers David and Robert Stewart.
They were jailed for three years last week for dozens of paramilitary crimes after turning 'supergrasses'.
