Michael Campbell (35), the brother of a Real IRA (RIRA; Oglaigh Na hEireann) leader was dramatically arrested in a security forces "sting" operation yesterday in Vilnius, Lithuania, as he allegedly attempted to buy arms. A lengthy operation involving gardai, international security agencies and local police led to the arrest, online edition of the Irish Independent reports. It's understood that Campbell, who is believed to also have links to the Real IRA, arrived in Lithuania over the weekend with a woman, who was also arrested during the undercover operation. Lithuanian police has stressed that it has no relation to the operation, online paper Delfi writes. Lithuanian State Security Department (VSD) has rejected to comment the news on Campbell’s arest.
It is believed that Michael Campbell, from Upper Faughart, Dundalk, Co Louth, was under surveillance as he travelled to Vilnius and was then put in contact with the bogus dealer. Campbell was detained with a woman as he allegedly tried to negotiate a deal with a police agent posing as an international arms dealer. They can be held for up to 48 hours before being charged or released. The arms were said by security forces representative to have been destined for the breakaway Real IRA faction, led by Campbell's brother, Liam, who has twice been jailed for membership of an illegal organisation.
The splinter group has a couple of dozen members and is slightly smaller than the original Real IRA group, that was under the control of Michael McKevitt, currently serving a lengthy prison sentence in Portlaoise. According to intelligence sources, the Liam Campbell faction has strongholds in Louth-south Armagh, Derry and Cork but is known to be in need of money and weapons, Irish Independent adds.
As part of the negotiations, he was shown an array of firearms by the police agent. But officers moved in yesterday and detained the Dundalk man before the alleged deal could be completed. Four years ago, Michael Campbell was at the centre of an alleged Real IRA cigarette smuggling racket worth millions of euro.He was arrested when the international cigarette smuggling ring was uncovered after warehouses in the Netherlands and Ireland were raided. Most of the cigarettes destined for the black market in the Republic and the North were labelled Super Kings but the cartons and boxes later turned out to be imitations of that brand.Campbell was found guilty by a Dutch court of defrauding the exchequer of €327,000 in excise duty and was sentenced to four months in prison. His lawyer claimed that the link between the smuggling and the terror group was "exaggerated" and that Michael Campbell denied any involvement with the Real IRA.
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