Jump to full article: The Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday (uk), 2009-03-13
Author: Paul Thompson
Intro: An American businessman has been accused of funding the Real IRA by masterminding a cigarette smuggling ring that has netted them hundreds of thousands of pounds.
The case highlights the criminal activities which underpin the funding of terrorism in Northern Ireland.
Roman Vidal, 57, arranged for shipments of millions of cigarettes from Panama to Dublin where they were collected by contacts linked to the terror group.
The Real IRA has claimed responsibility for the murder of two British soldiers in Antrim on Saturday. . . .
Vidal is accused of sending two massive shipments of cigarettes to Ireland which were sold on the 'black market' at a fraction of the cost of other cigarettes.
U.S. customs agents told a Miami court they were able to trace the shipments, hidden under wood flooring and insulation material, to gangs linked to the Real IRA.
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