The Florida Four were a group of weapon traffickers — Anthony Smyth, Conor Claxton, Martin Mullan and Siobhan Browne — who delivered weapons from the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

to the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...

for eventual use in

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

by the

Provisional Irish Republican Army The Provisional Irish Republican Army (Provisional IRA), officially known as the Irish Republican Army (IRA; ) and informally known as the Provos, was an Irish republican paramilitary force that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland ...

. The operation was first uncovered in 1999 and the group were convicted in 2000 The group was able to send about a 100 handguns, rifles and shotguns, as well as armour-piercing ammunition. The weapons were mailed from

Fort Lauderdale Fort Lauderdale ( ) is a coastal city located in the U.S. state of Florida, north of Miami along the Atlantic Ocean. It is the county seat of and most populous city in Broward County with a population of 182,760 at the 2020 census, making it ...

in packages containing toys and electronics. Browne later said that Claxton "spent more than US$100,000 off the books on semi- and fully automatic weapons". In August 1999, the IRA, through the Irish republican newspaper ''

An Phoblacht ''An Phoblacht'' (Irish pronunciation: ; ) is a Sinn Féin-affiliated online Irish republicanism, Irish republican news platform which also publishes a quarterly print magazine format. Editorially the paper takes a Left-wing politics, left-wing ...

'', denied sanctioning the plot. This contradicts Conor Claxton's testimony that he was sent to Florida by a senior IRA official and that they needed higher approval to complete the arms mission."Lies catch up with Teflon leaders"
, '' NewsHound''. Accessed 2007-10-05

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Florida Four People convicted of arms trafficking Provisional Irish Republican Army members