FBI agent on dark web asked to send grenade, handgun and Semtex to Dublin, court hears
A man accused of IRA membership answered "no comment" when asked about his alleged involvement in a plot to buy weapons on the dark web, his trial at the Special Criminal Court heard today.
Jonathan Hawthorn (45) of Ballintyre Downs in Ballinteer, Dublin has pleaded not guilty to membership of an unlawful organisation styling itself the Irish Republican Army, otherwise Oglaigh na hEireann, otherwise the IRA on September 14, 2016.
He is on trial with James Geraghty (61) of Dolphin House in Dolphin’s Barn, and Donal O'Ceallaigh (33) with an address on Beach Road, Sandymount who also deny the membership charge.
The trial has previously heard that an undercover FBI agent alerted gardai after an internet user asked him to send a grenade, handgun, ammunition and Semtex to Dolphin House in Dolphin's Barn.
Gardai then watched as a "mock-up" delivery, made to look like what had been ordered, was signed for by Mr Hawthorn, using James Geraghty's name.
During legal argument in the non-jury, three-judge court, Detective Sergeant Eamon Hoey of the Special Detective Unit told prosecuting counsel John Byrne BL that he interviewed Mr Hawthorn at a Dublin garda station on September 14, 2016. During those interviews gardai asked Mr Hawthorn a number of questions and he replied, "no comment," to each one.
Gardai asked him why he was in Dolphin's Barn, if he was told to go there by the IRA, if his goal was to collect the package and were other members of the IRA involved in the operation to collect the delivery.
They asked him if he would deny being a member of the IRA and if he denied taking part in an IRA operation.
The trial continues before Justice Isobel Kennedy presiding with Judge Gerard Griffin and Judge Gerard Haughton
