A Northern Ireland police officer told the Special Criminal Court in Dublin yesterday that he believed four mobile phones were used in assisting the 1998 Omagh bombing which killed 29 people and injured hundreds.
Det Insp David McWilliams, of the Police Service of Northern Ireland, said he became aware that a mobile phone used by a man living in south Armagh had been used on the day of the bombing together with three other mobile phones.
"We believed that they assisted in the bombing of Omagh," he said. He added that he took part at a briefing at Bessbrook Mill military base on February 21st, 1999 in advance of a planned search operation at the south Armagh man's house.
He was giving evidence on the 18th day of the trial of Mr Colm Murphy, the only person charged in connection with the Omagh bomb.
Mr Murphy (49), of Ravensdale, Dundalk, has pleaded not guilty to conspiring in Dundalk with another person not before the court to cause an explosion in the State or elsewhere between August 13th and 16th, 1998. The trial continues on Monday.