Three Irishmen have been extradited from Slovakia to the UK and charged with terrorist offences.
Mr Fintan Paul O'Farrell (35), Mr Declan John Rafferty (41) and Mr Michael Christopher McDonald (44) will appear in court tomorrow in London, a Scotland Yard spokeswoman said. All three are from Co Louth.
Each man faces three counts under the Terrorism Act 2000 and two counts under the Criminal Law Act 1977.
They were arrested by Slovak police, acting on behalf of Scotland Yard's Anti-Terrorist Branch, on July 5th in Piestany, a spa town in western Slovakia.
They allegedly had been trying to buy weapons for the ‘Real IRA’ from British secret service agents pretending to be Iraqi arms salesmen.
The UK has an extradition agreement with Slovakia which allowed the three men to be transferred quickly to British soil.
They are being held at a central London police station and are due to appear at Belmarsh magistrates court tomorrow.
AP