- VILNIUS, Lithuania: A Lithuanian judge found an Irish man guilty Friday of trying to buy weapons and explosives in a six-year sting orchestrated by Britain’s domestic spy agency MI5 — a case that drew attention to a hardcore Irish Republican Army splinter group’s plans to spread terror to London.
Judge Arunas Kisielus of the Vilnius Regional Court sentenced Michael Campbell — a 39-year-old with alleged links to the Real IRA group — to 12 years in prison for weapons offenses and supporting a terrorist group.
Video footage and intercepted communications showed that Campbell paid some €6,000 (about $8,300) for high-grade explosives, grenade launchers, detonators, AK-47s and a special assassin’s rifle to Lithuanian agents posing as arms dealers.
Kisielius sentenced Campbell to five years for weapons possession, six years for attempting to smuggle weaponry and explosives, and 12 years for supporting a terrorist group. However, Kisielius said the sentences on the weapons charges would be canceled since no harm was caused.