Four men are due to appear in court in Scotland tomorrow in connection with the discovery last weekend of a cache of explosives that has been linked to the UVF.
It is believed the men are all from the Glasgow area. They were among a group of six arrested in Kirkintilloch, East Dunbartonshire, on Saturday. The other two people held have been released.
A police spokesman said the four were to be charged with terrorist offences, understood to concern moving guns and explosives for loyalists.
The Progressive Unionist Party leader, Mr David Ervine, was called on last night to explain implications of the arrests on the UVF’s ceasefire. The PUP is the political wing of the UVF.
The Alliance leader Mr David Forde said the PUP had been extremely vocal in the past over the status of the IRA ceasefire and accused the republicans of "destabilising the peace process".
"Yet it appears that their paramilitary colleagues in the UVF are transporting material that is usually associated with pipe bombs," he alleged.
Mr Ervine refused to comment, saying only that he knew nothing about the arrests and would "respond when the picture is clearer".
:quality(70)/s3.amazonaws.com/arc-authors/irishtimes/e8fa4512-dd7b-401d-9688-d4e6bf1533c3.png)