The Loyalist Volunteer Force has dismissed a report in a weekend newspaper that it would hand over 20 weapons within 10 days as media speculation.
A member of the LVF "army council" said yesterday: "The LVF have not divulged any details to anyone whatsoever regarding what amount of weapons they are prepared to hand over. To say that 20 weapons will be handed over within 10 days is nothing less than media speculation."
He continued: "We have already said that in the interests of fulfilling the democratic desires of the people, we would proceed with `a small but very real' gesture of physical decommissioning of our weaponry.
"This we will do now that our May 17th ceasefire has been recognised and parity of treatment of our personnel has been granted. This decommissioning will take place within weeks. No fixed time scale has been agreed."
Meanwhile, LVF prisoners in the Maze have backed a call by Mr David Wright, father of Billy Wright, for a public inquiry into the murder of the LVF leader in the prison last year.
The prisoners, some of whom witnessed the killing, have challenged the evidence of prison officers who testified at the recent trial of three INLA members, Christopher McWilliams, John Glennon and John Kennaway. All three received life sentences for their parts in the Wright killing.
The senior LVF prisoner in the Maze said: "We back David Wright's call for a public inquiry. We witnessed the killing, and the evidence of certain prison officers is incorrect. We ask why we were not called upon to give evidence at the murder trial. The Northern Ireland Office has repeatedly ignored calls for the truth to be made public."
Mr Wright says he intends to step up his campaign for a public inquiry into his son's murder by lobbying the leaders of Northern Ireland's main political parties as well as the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern.