A car occupied by four men accused of IRA membership was chased and stopped by a Garda patrol in Co Donegal last year, the Special Criminal Court has heard today.

The Special Criminal Court in Dublin was today shown a video of three masked men, including one carrying an AK 47 rifle, who told BBC journalists they were the Real IRA and ``capable of waging war against the British state’.

The trial of four men arrested during a Garda operation into suspected dissident activity in Donegal last March has heard that images of “men in balaclavas, camouflaged jackets and holding an AK47” were found during a search of a Transit van.

Four Derry men today pleaded not guilty at the Special Criminal Court in Dublin to IRA membership last March.

Four Derry men arrested during a Garda investigation into dissident republicans in Co Donegal have been further remanded in custody as the defence waits for a book of evidence to be produced.