One of the defendants in the Florida gun-running trial, Mr Conor Claxton, has admitted in court that he has been a member of the IRA for the past eight years and an international representative for it and for Sinn Fein.
On the witness stand as the trial in Fort Lauderdale enters its fourth week, Mr Claxton (27) told the court, according to the Sun Sentinel, that he joined the IRA as a volunteer when he was 19 and that he had travelled extensively abroad. He said his missions included meetings with IRA supporters in countries such as South Africa, Kurdistan and Sierra Leone.
But Claxton has denied prosecution claims that by sending guns to Ireland from Florida last year he was trying to wreck the Northern Ireland peace process. He said he wanted peace for his children who live in a house just 10 feet from the "peace line" in Belfast separating Catholic and Protestant neighbourhoods.
Mr Claxton and two other defendants, Mr Anthony Smyth and Mr Martin Mullan, are accused of smuggling dozens of guns to Ireland through the mail and of conspiracy to commit murder and maim persons in Northern Ireland. They face sentences of up to life imprisonment if found guilty.
Mr Claxton's links to the IRA were first revealed soon after his arrest in Fort Lauderdale when an FBI agent who interrogated him claimed that he had admitted he was on an arms procurement mission for "higher-ups" in the IRA.
The agent also claimed that Mr Claxton said the guns were for use against the RUC and loyalist paramilitary groups and that he believed that the peace process had failed.
Mr Claxton told the court that the house where his young sons live was fire-bombed by loyalist paramilitaries two years ago.