But he has never faced serious charges here or in Northern Ireland. Finance for the arms buying reportedly came from smuggling and other criminal activity in the Border area. The two dissident organisations have been working in unison for the past year, sharing equipment and ideas. Co Meath, last October. That cache included RPG18 rockets, plastic explosives and electric detonators.
Sources say the weapons coming from former Yugoslavia have been of very high quality.
The dissidents also have an unknown supply of a very powerful explosive similar to the Semtex explosive held by the Provisionals. They also have electrical detonators.