Irish News November 3, 2002 Vigilante guns ‘came from Florida’ Valerie Robinson Guns found in the possession of Sinn Féin members suspected of planning a punishment attack had come from a batch of weapons smuggled into Ireland from Florida, senior security sources in the Republic have revealed.  Sources have claimed that three pistols found in the car stopped by gardai in north Cork in January last year were among arms shipments purchased by republican sympathisers in the US.  It has also been claimed that at least one Provisional IRA member in Cork has had his ‘knuckles rapped’ by paramilitary leaders for allowing the guns to fall into the hands of suspected vigilantes.  The IRA’s Florida gun-running ring was smashed in 1999 after a number of people were arrested and later convicted in a US court of sending guns to Ireland.  Conor Claxton (29) from west Belfast, Martin Mullan (32) from Philidelphia and Anthony Smyth (45), a Florida car salesmen were convicted on charges of shipping weapons to Ireland in June 2000.  Claxton had told the month-long trial that he had been pushed by militant Irish-Americans to buy weapons for fear that Catholics could be left at the mercy of loyalists if the peace process collapsed.  Investigators in America and Ireland intercepted 23 packages containing 122 guns and other weapons allegedly mailed by the US-based group.  However, it is believed that other weapons got through. Four men were jailed this week after being convicted of possession of firearms for an unlawful purpose.  The men, who were arrested after gardai stopped their car in Mitchelstown, included Sean Kind, a Cork-based Sinn Féin activist and anti-drugs campaigner.  During the trial, the Special Criminal Court heard that one of the men had admitted to gardai that they were on their way to “sort out some fella” when they were arrested early on January 29.  Highly placed security sources have revealed that the weapons found in the men’s car had been traced back by gardai to the US. And republican sources have claimed that last year’s arrests, which have caused major embarrassment for Sinn Féin in Munster, led to a senior IRA man being demoted in the Cork unit.  The revelation is likely to further damage the IRA’s image in America, which has traditionally been a major source of funds for both Sinn Féin and its militant wing.  In the wake of the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington, during which thousands of people were killed and injured, the US government has taken a hardline stance on ‘terrorism’.  Funds and support have also dried up for groups like the IRA after the US public got first-hand experience of the consequences of terrorist attacks.