An Irish man has been sent behind the bars for 12 years after he was found guilty of trying to purchase weapons for terrorist organisation called Real IRA.

Thirty-nine-year-old Michael Campbell, from County Louth, was trapped by agents from Britain's MI5 and the Irish and Lithuanian security services in a sting operation in which he was caught red-handed trying to purchase guns for the terrorist organization.

Prosecutor Irmantas Mikelionis said that the weapons and explosives would have been given to Real IRA, which would have used them to launch terrorist attacks in the United Kingdom.

Speaking about the case, Mikelionis argued, "The evidence acquired during the investigation proves that the weapons and explosives would have been used for terrorist attacks and killing of innocent people in the United Kingdom."

Judge Arunas Kisielius found Campbell guilty of trying to unlawfully buying arms, weapons smuggling, and of having association with a terrorist organization.

Campbell admitted trying to purchase weapons but insisted that he neither had any connection with the Real IRA nor he was purchasing the weapons were not for the Real IRA.

Campbell was arrested in January 2008. At the time his arrest his wife was also with him, but she was freed without charge around months later. During his more than three-year stay in the cell, Campbell was not allowed visits from any of his friend or relative.