The Five Demands

RIRA man jailed after Lithuania ‘sting’ (UTV)
The brother of one of the men found liable for the Omagh bomb has been jailed for his part in a Real IRA arms plot in Lithuania – after being caught on camera during a sting operation.
Co Louth man Michael Campbell, 36 and from Upper Faughart in Dundalk, was sentenced in a Lithuanian court on Friday morning and received a 12-year jail term.
Among the evidence against him was video footage of a weapons deal, including conversations with an associate and with undercover agents posing as arms dealers.
At one point, Campbell is pressed on what he plans to do with the weapons and who the targets will be – to which he answered: “Brits”.
He’s also heard answering a question about who he is with the clarification: “IRA”.
Operation Uncritical was, in fact, one of the most significant stings carried out by the security services and was a major blow for dissident republican terrorists.
Sharon O’Neill in her blog: The Sting
Seen examining explosives apparently on offer, Campbell is also heard telling an associate: “You imagine us getting over to England if you’d ten of them and ten clocks in a holdall.
“You imagine, with a six hour timer we could be over to London and back. Just tick, tick, tick – gone. Leave it anywhere.”
He insists he was a victim of entrapment and admits travelling to the Baltic state to buy weapons, but claims he did not intend to use them to arm dissident republicans.
Campbell plans to appeal the case.
His arrest in Vilnius in 2008 and now his subsequent conviction are the culmination of a four-year operation by MI5 and authorities in Lithuania.
“This is another excellent example of what can come from the high levels of co-operation between countries across Europe and beyond in combating terrorism,” Northern Ireland Secretary of State Owen Paterson said.
“I have no doubt that this will have dealt a blow to RIRA, but we are not complacent and we remain determined to do all that we can to bear down on those who are the enemies of the whole community throughout the United Kingdom.”
Campbell’s brother Liam is one of four men found to be liable for the 1998 Real IRA Omagh car bomb, which exploded in the heart of the Co Tyrone town, in a landmark civil suit.
The atrocity claimed the lives of 29 people, including a woman pregnant with twins.