Lithuania jails Real IRA man who tried to buy weapons

A BROTHER of one of the men blamed for the Omagh bomb atrocity has been jailed for 12 years for trying to buy weapons and explosives in Lithuania.

Irishman Michael Campbell was arrested in an undercover operation in the Baltic state after handing over cash to buy a sniper rifle, detonators and timers for the Real IRA.

The 39-year-old was convicted by Judge Arunas Kisielus after a two-year trial in the capital, Vilnius.

He was arrested in January 2008 following the operation involving the British, Irish and Lithuanian intelligence agencies, which believe the explosives would have been used to mount a terror campaign in Northern Ireland and on the British mainland.