Two men were jailed today for attempting to ship explosives to Northern Ireland for the Ulster Volunteer Force.
The High Court in Glasgow was told Donald Reid (28) was carrying enough explosives to detonate 10 car bombs when police stopped his car near his home in Kilsyth, near Glasgow, on May 4th this year.
Reid and Robert Baird (46) from Kirkintilloch, near Glasgow, today admitted conspiring to further the purposes of the UVF by transporting five kilos of explosives from Troon in Scotland to Belfast by ferry.
Advocate deputy Mr Murdo MacLeod, prosecuting, said the seizure was the second biggest haul of explosives in Scotland in 30 years.
Police intercepted Reid's car as he drove to the Ayrshire port following a two-week surveillance operation involving 100 police officers, codenamed Operation Whiteout.
Sentencing the men judge Lord Menzies said the explosives "could have been used to kill and maim innocent people and used to make up to 10 car bombs."
The judge added: "These are matters which the court is bound to view with the utmost severity."
Baird and Reid were also jailed for eight years each after pleading guilty to possessing items to be used in an act of terrorism, while Reid received a three-year sentence for possessing ammunition without a firearms certificate. All the sentences will run concurrently.
Two other men, Brian Cairney (41) from Kirkintilloch, and Alan Salmon (30) from Glasgow, were acquitted of the charges after the judge accepted not guilty pleas tended on their behalf.
PA