A Real IRA terrorist has today been jailed over a plot to bomb London.
Michael Campbell was caught after being secretly filmed and having his conversations bugged by MI5.
The terror plot involved Campbell planting a bomb with a six-hour timer and escaping to Ireland before it went off.
Captured footage shows him negotiating a deal to buy guns, detonators and remote controls, and discussing how to booby-trap cars with explosives.
In the secret film, Campbell also admits to being an IRA member and calls Britons his “enemies”.
A bugged conversation also revealed Campbell talking about buying “blocks” – a reference to explosives.
In the recording, he can be heard to say: “F**k me – you imagine us getting over to England if you’d 10 of them and 10 clocks in a holdall. You imagine, with a six-hour timer we could be over to London and back. Just tick tick tick tick … gone. Leave it anywhere.”
Campbell was jailed for 12 years after a two-year trial in Lithuania, where he tried to buy guns and explosives.
He was first arrested in 2008 following a joint operation by British, Irish and Lithuanian intelligence agencies.
The would-be bomber had pleaded innocent and claimed he was the victim of entrapment.
Chief prosecutor of Lithuania’s Organised Crime and Corruption Investigations Department Irmantas Mikelionis said: “The evidence acquired during the investigation proves that the weapons and explosives would have been used for terrorist attacks and killing of innocent people in the United Kingdom.”
The Daily Mail reports that Michael Campbell is the brother of Liam Campbell, who a civil court ruling found liable for the 1990 IRA Omagh bombing, which killed 29 people.
