Senior gardai investigating the attempt to smuggle 32 high-powered handguns into the State remained non-committal on who was responsible yesterday, but there are growing indications the weapons were meant for the Provisional IRA.
None of the suspects detained in the United States and Galway has admitted belonging to the organisation, but Garda sources confirmed yesterday that two of the four men being questioned are suspected of being in the Provisional IRA.
Further arrests may be made in connection with the exposure of a gun-running ring based in south Florida, according to police sources there. The arrests may be linked with close surveillance of some Irish bars where fund-raising functions for the republican movement in Northern Ireland have been held.
It is believed the buying of arms was being done with the intention of providing the IRA with new untraceable weapons which might be used in assassinations and "punishment" shootings which the organisation would not wish to admit. This is the main type of violence which the IRA has been involved in since calling its last ceasefire in July 1997.
The 32 handguns, Austrian-manufactured Glock automatic pistols and American Ruger, are among the most powerful available. The fact that all the weapons are similar appears to suggest the weapons were acquired for a specific purpose. i yesterday said there was no significant sign that the IRA was preparing to break its ceasefire. One source said it could be considered normal for a terrorist organisation to continue to arm itself in this way despite the recent speculation that the IRA was considering, for the first time, decommissioning weapons.
Gardai in Galway yesterday released a woman from west Belfast who was arrested at the bungalow in Inverin, Connemara, where six of the handguns were seized as they arrived, hidden inside a child's toy fire-engine and a video cassette recorder, in the post. The woman's husband, from the Beechmount area off the Falls Road, was still being detained. A local woman, who is in her 20s and who had been renting the house in Inverin, was also still being held. i yesterday two of the men being held are known to have been associated with the Provisional IRA. Another man who was arrested in Co Cavan at the weekend in connection with the arms plot is also said to have known Provisional IRA connections. He was released without charge as nothing illegal was found at his homes.
Since the beginning of the IRA ceasefires a number of Provisional IRA figures have drifted away from the organisation, either retiring from terrorist activity or moving over to dissident organisations, so both the RUC and Garda special branches have been having difficulty in determining people's affiliations.
However, according to some Garda sources yesterday it seemed increasingly likely that the weapons were due for the Provisional IRA.
The three Irish persons accused of unlawfully exporting guns and ammunition to Ireland from the US will appear in Fort Lauderdale today for a bail hearing.
They are Ms Siobhan Browne (34), who was born in Cork and has been living in Fort Lauderdale since 1991; Mr Anthony Smyth (42), from Belfast, who has also been living in the area for some time; and Mr Conor Anthony Claxton (26), who is also said to be from Belfast and to have entered the US last March.
They are also accused of unlawfully using the US Mail for sending guns and of conspiracy.
All three were arrested early last Monday.