Dissident republicans get 30 years

(L-R) O'Farrell, McDonald and Rafferty were arrested in Slovakia

Three men from the Republic of Ireland have each been sentenced to 30 years in prison after pleading guilty to planning to cause an explosion and buying weapons.

The dissident republicans from County Louth also admitted trying to obtain detonators, rocket-propelled grenades, handguns, sniper rifles and a wire guided missile.

Rafferty said that with Iraqi support they could defeat the British, but suffered a 'lack of funds and hardware

Richard Horwell, Crown Prosecutor

Fintan Paul O'Farrell, 39, Declan John Rafferty, 42, and Michael Christopher McDonald, 44, were arrested in the small spa town of Piest'any in Slovakia on 5 July last year.

On Tuesday they were sentenced at Woolwich Crown Court in London to 30 years each for conspiracy to cause explosions and 12 years each for charges under the Terrorism Act, to run concurrently.

After their arrest, the men were extradited to Britain and had been due to stand trial at Woolwich Crown Court.

But they gave guilty pleas to the charges, which included conspiring "unlawfully and maliciously" to cause an explosion in the UK or Republic of Ireland between 18 February and 6 July last year.

The three gave their pleas in front of a packed public gallery and amid heightened security at the court last Thursday.

Agents

The dissident republicans were caught after an elaborate sting operation by MI5 agents.

Codenamed Operation Samnite, it was arranged with the help of MI6 and the anti-terrorist branch of the Metropolitan Police, Crown prosecutor Richard Horwell told the court.

Posing as arms dealers, the agents were said to have lured the men to Piest'any after several meetings.

O'Farrell, Rafferty and McDonald hoped to clinch an arms deal ahead of what could have been a new bombing campaign in the UK or Ireland.

The Real IRA was blamed for the Hammersmith Bridge bomb

An MI5 agent posing as an Iraqi arms dealer made the first contact on 19 January last year, phoning a secret number supplied by the IRA.

Mr Horwell said that Michael McKevitt answered, and that he was the leader of the Real IRA.

Five phone calls later, the first meeting was arranged for 7 February.

Rafferty and O'Farrell met up with a British agent, who introduced himself as an Iraqi official called Samir.

The two men explained they were representing Mr McKevitt because it was very difficult for him to leave southern Ireland.

"Rafferty said that with Iraqi support they could defeat the British but suffered a 'lack of funds and hardware'," Mr Horwell said.

Weapons

A series of meetings followed, during which all three of the convicted Irishmen tried to gain explosives, grenades and guns.

They were arrested following a 5 July meeting by a team of armed Slovak police who were working with MI5.

Before being extradited they were held at Leopold prison in Trnava on an international arrest warrant issued by the Home Office.

An initial charge that the three were members of the IRA was later dropped.

The three faced five charges under the Terrorism Act and one under the Explosive Substances Act.

Rafferty and McDonald pleaded guilty to all charges.

O'Farrell denied two of the charges under the Terrorism Act which related to an earlier meeting on 9 April when Rafferty and McDonald tried to procure weapons.

O'Farrell's pleas were accepted by the Crown Prosecution Service.