Pair admit UVF explosives plot

Reid and Baird pleaded guilty to conspiracy

Two men have been jailed for 11 years each for trying to send explosives from Scotland to the Ulster Volunteer Force in Northern Ireland.

Robert Baird, 46, from Kirkintilloch, and Donald Reid, 28, from Kilsyth, both pleaded guilty to the conspiracy.

The court heard that Reid was carrying enough explosives to detonate 10 car bombs when police stopped his car near his home on 4 May.

These are matters which the court is bound to view with the utmost severity

Lord Menzies

The two men admitted conspiring to further the purposes of the UVF by transporting 5kg of explosives from Troon in Scotland to Belfast by ferry.

Advocate depute Murdo MacLeod, prosecuting, said the seizure was the second largest haul of explosives found in Scotland in 30 years.

He said the UVF had a network of cells and support groups in Scotland which were organised into "area units".

"Intelligence suggests that the UVF in the west of Scotland has access to firearms and munitions and continues to procure additional weaponry and munitions as it becomes available," he said.

Police intercepted Reid's car as he drove to the Ayrshire port following a two-week surveillance operation involving 100 police officers, codenamed Operation Whiteout.

Bag of bullets

Detonators and fuses were hidden underneath one of the car doors.

A jacket found in Baird's house contained a roll of tape which experts established had been used to fix them in place.

Officers also discovered a bag containing 5.56mm bullets, which were compatible with British service issue rifles, and a balaclava in his home.

The men appeared at the High Court in Glasgow

An air pistol and spent cartridges were found in the house where Reid lived with his mother.

Police also discovered extensive UVF-related paraphernalia, including framed photographs of terrorists and loyalist graffiti, in the two men's homes.

Lawyers for the two men told the court that neither was a member of the UVF.

Paul McBride QC, defending Baird, said the married father-of-four had long held "legitimate sympathies" with legal organisations sympathetic to the loyalist cause.

Mr McBride said: "As a result of associations with persons and friends, he found himself being drawn into this enterprise, something which he bitterly regrets.

"He realises that your lordship in carrying out his public duty will be required to deter others by imposing a significant prison sentence."

Car bombs

George Gebbie, defending Reid, said his client had acted as a "courier" and was unaware of the scale of the operation.

"Mr Reid became aware of much more information after he was apprehended by the police than he was aware of before," he said.

"He is shocked by the magnitude of what he is involved in."

Lord Menzies told the men that the explosives "could have been used to kill and maim innocent people and used to make up to 10 car bombs".

Act of terrorism

"These are matters which the court is bound to view with the utmost severity," he said.

Baird and Reid were also jailed for eight years each after pleading guilty to possessing items to be used in an act of terrorism, while Reid received a three year sentence for possessing ammunition without a firearms certificate.

All the sentences will run at the same time.

Two other men, Brian Cairney, 41, from Kirkintilloch, and Alan Salmon, 30, from Glasgow, were acquitted after the judge accepted their not guilty pleas.