# Florida Four

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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](/source/United_States) to the [Republic of Ireland](/source/Republic_of_Ireland) for eventual use in [Northern Ireland](/source/Northern_Ireland) by the [Provisional Irish Republican Army](/source/Provisional_Irish_Republican_Army).

The operation was first uncovered in 1999 and the group were convicted in 2000[1]

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](/source/Fort_Lauderdale) in packages containing toys and electronics.[2]

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](/source/An_Phoblacht)*, denied sanctioning the plot.[3] 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.[4]

## References

1. ["Four face 'IRA smuggling' charges"](https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/2522263.stm). 2002-11-28. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20210413101852/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/2522263.stm) 2021-04-13 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2023-01-18.

1. ["Six Held in N.Ireland Over IRA Florida Gun Case"](http://www.ulsterflash.iofm.net/usa.htm) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20070927193626/http://www.ulsterflash.iofm.net/usa.htm) 2007-09-27 at the Wayback Machine, *[Reuters](/source/Reuters)*. Accessed 2007-10-05.

1. Wilson, Jamie.["IRA denies sanctioning US gun plot"](https://www.theguardian.com/Northern_Ireland/Story/0,2763,204840,00.html),*[The Guardian](/source/The_Guardian)*, 1999-08-07. Accessed 2007-10-05.

1. ["Lies catch up with Teflon leaders"](http://www.nuzhound.com/articles/The_Village/arts2005/feb19_lies_catch_up_with_Teflon_leaders__SBreen.php) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20070310213815/http://www.nuzhound.com/articles/The_Village/arts2005/feb19_lies_catch_up_with_Teflon_leaders__SBreen.php) 10 March 2007 at the Wayback Machine, *[NewsHound](/source/NewsHound)*. Accessed 2007-10-05

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Florida Four](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida_Four) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida_Four?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.