Married couple accused of gun-smuggling plot

24 June 2006
The Irish News

A married couple and a second man appeared in court yesterday after police claimed they had smashed an international gun smuggling plot linked to dissident republicans. In the dock at Belfast Magistrates Court were Desmond Kearns (42), his wife Alison, a 37-year-old mother-of-two from Tannaghmore Green in Lurgan, and Michael Dermot Gregory (37), from Concession Road, Crossmaglen, all Co Armagh.

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Alleged deputy head of Real IRA held in Northern Ireland

24 June 2006
Agence France Presse

The man believed to be second in command of the breakaway Real IRA was charged Saturday in Northern Ireland with attempted murder and arms smuggling.  Paul McCaugherty, 39, from Lurgan, appeared before a court in Craigavon on charges of being between December 1, 2005 and June 19, 2006 -- the date of his arrest -- the deputy leader of the Real IRA, which broke away from the main Irish Republic Army (IRA) because it opposes the peace process.  He is also accused of trying to murder members of the security forces between May 2005 and June 2006. 

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Alleged top IRA dissident in Northern Ireland charged with arms-smuggling plot

24 June 2006
Associated Press
Shawn Pogatchnik

A man identified by police as the deputy commander of an Irish Republican Army dissident group was arraigned Saturday on charges of trying to smuggle weapons, including surface-to-air missiles and plastic explosives, into Northern Ireland.  Paul McCaugherty, 39, was flanked by two police officers as he appeared in Craigavon Magistrates Court, where he was ordered held without bail until his next court appearance on July 20.  He was the fourth person to be charged following Monday's police raids and arrests targeting an alleged arms-smuggling plot by the Real IRA. The dissident group opposes the Northern Ireland peace process and the 1997 cease-fire being observed by most IRA members.  McCaugherty offered no plea and didn't speak during the hearing, but offered a thumbs-up sign to relatives and friends in the courtroom's public gallery.

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Husband and wife in court on weapon plot charges

23 June 2006
Press Association
Alan Erwin

A husband and wife were among three people who appeared in court today accused of an alleged international weapons plot by dissident republican terrorists. The conspiracy involved machine guns, explosives, and anti-tank weapons, it was claimed. Belfast Magistrates Court was also told the alleged plot stretched to Portugal.

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Trio in Belfast court accused of international weapons plot

23 June 2006
Agence France Presse

Three people close to a dissident republican paramilitary group in Northern Ireland were accused in court Friday of participating in an international weapons plot. Belfast Magistrates Court heard that the alleged conspiracy involved machine guns, explosives and anti-tank weapons, and stretched as far as Portugal and France. The three -- all remanded in custody -- were believed to be close to the Real IRA, a dissident group opposed to the peace process between Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland. They were among 10 people arrested Monday in a major police operation involving 200 officers.

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3 suspected IRA dissidents charged with trying to smuggle arsenal into N. Ireland

23 June 2006
Associated Press Newswires

Three suspected Irish Republican Army dissidents, including a husband and wife, were arraigned Friday on charges of trying to smuggle weapons into Northern Ireland. Desmond Kearns, 41, his wife Alison Kearns, 37, and Michael Gregory, 37, were ordered held without bail until their next court appearance July 28.

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Three charged following searches

23 June, 2006
BBC News

Three people have been remanded in custody following searches earlier this week by police in Armagh and Fermanagh. Police said at the time they believed they had stopped an international gun smuggling operation. Desmond Kearns, 41, and his wife Alison Patricia Kearns, 37, from Tannaghmore Green, Lurgan, were charged in a Belfast court with procuring weapons. Michael Dermot Gregory, 37, of Concession Road, Crossmaglen, was charged with making assets available.

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Three charged in Belfast over weapons plot

23 June 2006
Reuters News Belfast

Three people including a husband and wife appeared in a Belfast court on Friday charged with a string of terrorist offences following a police operation earlier this week against dissident Irish republicans. The three were among 10 people detained on Monday after some 200 police officers backed by the British Army carried out raids in Counties Armagh and Fermanagh, disrupting what police described as "a potential major terrorist conspiracy".

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Dissidents arrested

23 June 2006
Associated Press - Belfast

Three suspected Irish Republican Army dissidents, including a husband and wife, were arraigned Friday on charges of trying to smuggle weapons into Northern Ireland. Desmond Kearns, 41, his wife Alison Kearns, 37, and Michael Gregory, 37, were ordered held without bail until their next court appearance July 28. Detective

Chief Inspector Neil Graham, a police officer who interrogated them following their arrest Monday, testified that all three were suspected of trying to smuggle a vast array of weaponry via Portugal and France into Northern Ireland.

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Have Danger, Will Advise

30 May 2006
The New York Times
Sara J. Welch


Three years ago, Christopher Exline, a Dallas businessman, decided to open a branch of his furniture-rental company in Baghdad after he saw all the looting there on TV.

''I witnessed all of these liberated Iraqis embarking on their own redecorating schemes by looting the palace and office buildings,'' said Mr. Exline, who is chief executive officer of Home Essentials, which leases furniture to employees of government agencies and private companies in Iraq. ''I realized that any good furniture that did exist was now gone.''

Since then, Mr. Exline has expanded his company into Kabul, Afghanistan, and recently decided to open a showroom in Tripoli, Libya. ''I don't perceive this as risky,'' he said. ''Entrepreneurs define risk differently than other people.''

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