ITV documentary says Gaddafi emissary ‘packed’ US$2 million for IRA in Malta

According to Exposure, an ITV documentary series broadcast on British television - Gaddafi, who sent ship loads of weapons to the IRA in the 1970s - wanted to exploit the growing unrest in Northern Ireland as a means of attacking Britain for supporting the overthrowing of his regime.

A source at the Secret Intelligence Service, MI6, told the programme's producers that in June - at a time when Gaddafi's forces were suffering regular Nato bombing raids, and half of his country was in the hands of rebels - a Libyan courier flew into London carrying a heavy suitcase, inside which were bank notes wrapped in plastic, which were allegedly "packed in Malta."

After arriving in London, the courier allegedly "went to ground" in a property owned by the Gaddafi family in Hans Crescent, Knightsbridge, located behind the Harrods department store.

An MI6 official told the programme which was aired in September that "security forces fear that the dissidents are growing and gaining support – and that new cash from Gaddafi would help them restock with more weapons."

The first Libyan arms shipments occurred around 1972 following visits by Joe Cahill, the late former IRA chief.

The supplies included hundreds of rocket-propelled grenades, automatic rifles, sniper rifles, explosives and heavy machine guns. Although several shipments were seized by the Irish Navy, many others got through.

Although contact between Irish republicans and the Libyan government was broken off in 1976, it was re-established after the US Air Force bombed Tripoli and Benghazi in 1986.

Estimates suggest that enough weaponry was sent to the IRA to equip 1,500 terrorists.

The programme also obtained a copy of a video purporting to show a group of dissident republicans training with AK47 automatic rifles and pistols in the Irish countryside.

During 42 year rule, Gaddafi funded terrorist groups across the world including the Palestinian Liberation Organisation, the Black September movement, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in the Philippines, and the Japanese Red Army.