Irishman’s arrest in Lithuania ‘an MI5 plot’

THE Lithuanian lawyer for an Irishman accused of trying to purchase weapons for the Real IRA has told a court Michael Campbell was a victim of a sting by Britain’s intelligence service.

Campbell, 39, was arrested in January 2008 after allegedly handing €10,000 to a Lithuanian agent posing as a weapons supplier.

Campbell’s lawyer, Inga Botyriene, told a court in Vilnius that Campbell was provoked into buying weapons and explosives by undercover agents of MI5.